You Lift Me Up
by Tarafina
Summary: From the beginning to the end; how Bruce finally lets himself find happiness only to have it all destroyed.
1. Part I

**Title**: Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)  
**Song**: Lift Me Up - Mree  
**Category**: Thor/Avengers  
**Genre**: Romance/Drama/Humor/Tragedy  
**Ship**: Bruce/Darcy  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Prompt**: Day #4 – Crimson | Darcy Lewis Week (I'm late to the party and I don't care)  
**Warning(s)**: Sexual Content, Coarse Language, Character Death  
**Author's Note**: This was meant to be a oneshot, but it got so long that I had to separate it into parts.  
**Word Count**: 8,200  
**Summary**: From the beginning to the end; how Bruce finally lets himself find happiness only to have it all destroyed.

**_Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)_**  
-Novel-

**I.**

To fully understand what had brought them to this point, to the Hulk sitting in the pouring rain, cradling a body in his arms, screaming at the sky for daring to soak them, one has to go back to the beginning.

Not of time, as that would be arrogant considering in the great span of the world, of life itself, they were but two people. Not even of his life, though it had done its fair share of shaping him into the person just damaged enough to be easy prey to the simmering of rage beneath the surface. Not to the beginning of the Hulk, where a science project irrevocably changed his life for the worse. And not to the start of the Avengers, a team that gave Bruce focus, gave him purpose after he'd deemed his life, his work, worthless in the wake of the devastation that was his forever changed form.

Just to the beginning of _them_…

It was September of 2012, the tenth to be exact. He remembered vividly because with September 11th around the corner, the Avengers were in high demand for press coverage. And not a little fear of thread considering its terrible past and the possibility of something similar happening to repeat the tragedy.

Bruce was, not unusual, buried in his work, as he had been the last forty-two hours, running on a steady stream of room temperature tea and a box of stale Ritz crackers. A diet that might've been better if he'd looked up to see the sandwich that was put down for him, later going soggy in the middle and dry on the outside after repeatedly being ignored, and the Greek salad placed a little closer but still unseen, eventually wilting before it was shoved into a nearby garbage.

He didn't even look up as the lab doors swished open, though if he'd bothered to look around he would have noticed that the other scientists and lab techs had long hung up their white coats and left for much-needed rest.

So when a shadow fell over him, his brow furrowed, irritated at the imposed interruption. He raised his head, reaching for his glasses where they sat atop his desk, one arm crossed behind the lenses. He rubbed his dry eyes as he drew them on and opened his mouth to tell whoever it was that was bothering him to leave him alone, he was working on something.

But his words caught in his throat, as instead of one of his many "minions" as Tony liked to call them, he was rather faced with a beautiful young woman, bereft of a lab coat. In fact, she appeared to be in her pajamas. Confused, his eyes take her in from top to bottom, from fuzzy frog-head slippers to the purple sleep-mask she had pushed up into her dark, tangled hair.

"Uh…" His eyes darted away, finding the lab otherwise empty. "Can—Can I help you?"

"Yes. You can," she said, giving a quick nod. "You can get out of the lab coat and into bed."

"I-I'm _sorry?_" He choked a little on his tongue, a flush warming the back of his neck. He blinked a few times, trying to replay her words to see if maybe he'd misunderstood.

"It's four in the morning!" she told him. "Now, I was _told _my job ended at five, but I was pretty sure Coulson was talking _PM_, so you—!" She pointed at him, "Mister Scruffy, are going to have to either find a way to reorganize all your genius to normal working hours or me and you are going to be meeting up like this _a lot_…" She crossed her arms and tapped a slippered foot. "So?"

For a moment, and he would blame it on his sleep-addled mind at the time, he was completely distracted by the woman's chest being defined even more by the pressure of her arms crossed beneath it and the tight fabric of her tank top stretched enticingly across her cleavage.

She cleared her throat and raised a brow, which he caught as he quickly dragged his gaze upward. "_Sleep_," she told him.

"Look, I… I don't know what Coulson hired you to do," He readjusted his glasses, before motioning to his microscope, "But, I—"

"Personal assistant, expert scientist rearer, generally awesome Girl Friday to Doctor Fluffy himself, whatever works for you." She shrugged. "But you can just call me Darcy."

Bruce's mouth floundered for a reply, his brow furrowed in a knot, eyes falling as he searched for a way to argue that. "I—I don't _need _an assistant."

"Because you've done a great job of taking care of yourself," she said, eyeing the contents of his desk, where his box of stale crackers was turned over, crumbs spilling out. Beside that were six separate cups of tea in various stages, some still filled with liquid, others dried with it, one with a dead, floating insect of some kind.

"I had a breakthrough," he said somewhat defensively.

"Yeah, I've read your file, I'm sure you get a lot of those." She shook her head. "You can explain it to me on the elevator to your apartment." Reaching forward, she took him by the arm and started hauling him up from his chair.

"I really don't— You probably shouldn't—" He stood, shrugging his arm back to his side and frowning. "I'm not sure what exactly my file said, but I don't think you know what you're getting into."

"It had a bright red 'Handle With Care' stamp on it, trust me, I know what I'm getting into." With a yawn, she started for the door, reaching up to run a hand through her messy hair. "You're a crazy-smart scientist who occasionally turns into a giant green rage monster." She shrugged. "Put like that, it reminds me of my mother… _She_ was a single parent who worked two jobs who occasionally turned into a drunk bitch." She shrugged. "On the bright side, we don't talk anymore..."

Taking his lab coat off, he asked, "That's the bright side?"

They walked down the hallway, destination the elevator.

"You're right. The bright side is that I didn't turn out like her." She frowned. "Although, my teachers used to say they wished her work ethic rubbed off on me a little more…" She frowned, tipping her head thoughtfully. "Whatever, she was the best waitress-slash-sex-hotline-operator in town, but her parenting skills were for shit."

Bruce stared at the young woman out of the corner of his eyes, watching as she rubbed her tired face before holding her pass up to the elevator's lock screen. Climbing on, she moved to one side and leaned her head back against the wall, arms tucked around her again.

Bruce hit the button for his floor and then stood quietly, feeling the urge to say something, but not quite sure _what_.

"It's temporary," she said.

"Hm?" He turned to her, eyes wide. "What?"

"Me, working for you," she clarified. "It's temporary."

"Oh…" He nodded. "Well, that's probably for the best," he decided. "Given my… _problem_, I'm not sure prolonged exposure is good for anybody."

She snorted.

He looked up sharply.

"Look, the pity train has your name all over it, I get it," she told him, opening her eyes to look at him. "But it's not stopping at my station and I'm not getting on." She shook her head. "I'm here to assist you; make sure you eat, go to sleep at a semi-decent hour, and keep you from generally hurting your health." She shrugged. "I did it for Jane and, green ragey issues or not, I don't think you'll be that difficult." Her eyes widened for emphasis. "Now if you were Tony Stark, I think we'd have a few more problems. But you…" She raised a brow and half-smiled. "I don't know if it's the fact that you tip-toe around _yourself_, but you're like a _kitten _in comparison."

He scowled. "You've only been working here, _what_? A _day?_"

She smirked. "Try a _week_." She shook her head. "For _you _anyway. I _was _working with Jane, but her and Eric took off for parts unknown, wanting to work on the rainbow bridge some more, see what they can dig up. Since I'm all rainbow'd out, Coulson kept me around here and put me on Fluffy detail."

Lips pursed, he asked, "Why do you keep calling me that?"

She grinned widely, looking away as the elevator dinged to tell them they'd reached his floor. Climbing off, she said over her shoulder, "Your hair…" She looked up at it, giving a lopsided smile as he reached up to pat it down. "It just looks _fluffy_…"

Bruce felt that embarrassed blush fill his neck again. Clearing his throat, he said, "I haven't showered in awhile. I run my hands through my hair when I'm frustrated."

"I know." She walked down the hall toward his private apartment. "A week, remember? I've been leaving you food and tea, but you only ever go for the crackers. The tea was touch and go; you weren't into the black or white, and you seemed to like the oolong tea all right, but I noticed you were a lot more open to green tea, so…"

Bruce tried to think back and see if he noticed her at all in the last week, but he was coming up blank.

"No worries, you know about me now…" she said, seeming to catch on to his thread of thought. "I left you alone before because you were getting enough sleep, but when JARVIS told me you we're hitting the two days mark and you weren't budging, I thought it was time to intervene." Holding the door of his apartment open for him, she waved an impatient arm to get him to walk through.

"You have access to my apartment?" he asked, eyeing her warily.

"What? You think I'm going to sneak in and watch you shower?" she quipped, amused. "Look, without access it's going to be a lot harder to make sure you do what you need to."

"Which is?"

"Eat, sleep, work, only on a modified to normal human standards schedule." She frowned and added, "And because that sounds way too depressing, I'm going to add 'have fun' in there somewhere… Preferably without chemicals, but since those things occasionally make things interesting, I'm not going to rule them out."

Bruce blinked at her. "You're going to make me have _fun?_"

"I'm going to _assist_ you in having fun," she corrected.

"And if I don't _want _to…?" he wondered, kicking his shoes off before making his way toward his kitchen.

"You're right, maybe _assist _is a bit of an understatement. Technically, you could think of me as the Pepper to your Tony, only without the sexual tension those two have going on." She paused. "At least so far, I don't know what the future brings. Contrary to my Aunt Mary's so-called psychic powers, I do _not _have the sight."

Bruce was feeling more and more exhausted the longer their conversation went on. Partly because the last two days were catching up and partly, he thought, because Darcy, for all her own exhaustion, tended to move between conversation points in a fashion that left him thoroughly confused as to how they found the subject in the first place.

"So you're my… baby sitter?" he asked, mouth twisting grumpily.

Reaching past him to open the fridge and look inside for something to eat, she tapped her lips. "Only I get much better pay, benefits, and the added bonus of having someone exceedingly smart and handsome to co-exist with." She nodded. "You want an omelet?"

"Sure. I—" He paused. "So Coulson really thinks it's smart to have you watch out for me…" He looked her up and down. "Are you _trained?_"

"Of course! Darcy's been using the bathroom all on her own since she was three," she quipped. Seeing his unamused expression, she rolled her eyes. "Fine, so I'm not exactly a secret agent…" Grabbing out the eggs, cream, green pepper, cheese, ham, and a tomato, she added, "In actuality, I'm a poli-sci major, but is there _really _much of a difference?"

"You studied political sciences?" He frowned. "And you're working as a personal assistant?"

"For an _Avenger_," she amended. "I wouldn't exactly call that something to scoff at."

"Not scoffing," he muttered. "Just a little confused."

Sighing, she shrugged. "Like I said, it's temporary. Personally, I think Coulson is grooming me to work next to him, especially since Wendy is like ready to pop any second now. And she kind of, maybe expressed an interest in not having to deal with Coulson's workload while trying to raise a baby, so apparently she's going to take off at least a year or two… Which I'm good with, because that leaves a wide open space for yours truly to fill…" Getting down a bowl and searching his drawers for a knife and a whisk, she assured, "But don't worry, that's at least a month away and I'll personally prepare whoever they pick to be your next assistant."

"I don't want a _next _assistant."

"Aw, I'm _touched_," she said, cracking the eggs into the bowl.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "I don't want my _current _assistant," he mumbled, moving to sit on the stool at the island counter. Rubbing a hand over his hair, he added, "No offense."

She snorted. "I feel like that's going to be something you say to me a lot…" Without bothering to search for a cutting board, Darcy started chopping up the tomato, green pepper, and ham, seemingly amused when she noticed his grimace for her lack of concern over his marble countertops. "Pan?" she asked.

He pointed to a cupboard and sighed.

"Aha!" she said, pulling one out and setting it on the stove. "You want toast too?"

"Please," he said.

For the next few minutes, as Darcy prepared his impromptu breakfast, he just watched her. She moved easily, sometimes shaking her hips, humming under her breath to a song in her head. She pulled an elastic off her wrist to tie up her hair and waved the spatula around absently.

Darcy, he realized, was a free spirit.

Just in the short time he'd known her, she seemed to have no brain-to-mouth filter, didn't seem all that concerned with The Other Guy making an appearance, freely expressed her mommy-issues, and was under the impression that somehow she was going to tame the 'wild beast' that was both man and monster.

He wasn't sure why, but for some reason that amused him. All of it. Here was this young woman who had about the same amount of gumption as Tony and the apparent strength of Pepper, or so she thought. So far all she'd had to do was fetch him food and force him away from his lab. He wondered just how cool under pressure she would be when faced with his green alter-ego.

His good-humor faded then, as he thought about just how tiny and very breakable Darcy was, even for all her big talk.

Both a glass of milk and a plate clattered down in front of him then and his eyes fell to the omelet and butter-slathered slices of toast.

"Eat," she ordered, holding a fork out to him.

Using the fork to cut off an edge piece, he filled his mouth tentatively. Darcy still looked like she belonged in college, —maybe it was the pajamas pants with Homer Simpson's face on them—, so he was expecting her to still be in the stage of 'I only know how to cook things on a hot plate.' The perfect blend of spices, cheese, ham, and vegetables surprised him, melting on his tongue until he groaned with appreciation.

"Hells yeah," she said with a proud grin. "Iron Chef Darcy." She bowed, before moving back to gather the dishes and bring them to the sink.

"It's really good," he admitted, sawing off another bite.

"I know, right?" She grinned, filling the sink with hot, soapy water to soak the pan and spatula in while she quickly wiped off the knife and put it in the rack. "One good thing about momma-Lewis not sticking around much, Aunt Mary was a kickass cook and she was happy to share the skill."

"Lewis?" he said, brow furrowed.

"My last name," she explained. "Darcy 'Fantabulous' Lewis."

He snorted slightly. "I sincerely hope you're joking."

She gave him a wide-eyed innocent look before finally cracking up. "Yeah. Mom wasn't quite that cool. I got stuck with the ever so regal _Constance_…" She rolled her eyes. "Technically, I was born Darcenia Constance Lewis, but, _pfft_, that kind of mouthful wasn't gonna fly."

He raised a brow. "I don't know…" he mused, mouth tilting. "Darcenia is such an _attractive _name…"

Hands deep in the dish water, Darcy scrubbed the pan clean. "I _dare _you to call me Darcenia, Doc…" she told him. "We're going to see how far you pain threshold takes you before Big Green comes calling."

Taking up a slice of toast, he took a bite and said, "I'll keep that in mind."

Eyeing him, Darcy eventually returned to finishing up the dishes before taking out a wet rag, ringing it out, and moving back to wipe down the counters and stove.

"You don't have to clean up after me. Like you said, your job ends at five pm and I highly doubt Coulson or Fury will approve over time…" He frowned. "Even if they do, they'll probably make you fill out a stack of paperwork for it."

Shrugging, Darcy finished up and tossed the cloth back in the sink. "You looked like you had death nipping at your heels, Doc. I don't think making one meal and cleaning up after myself is going to break the bank."

He nodded, staring down at his plate. "Thank you."

"No worries." She circled around and hopped up onto the counter top next to him, reaching down to steal his piece of toast and taking a bite out of the corner. "We've got at least a month before Coulson steals me away, might as well get used to each other."

Bruce frowned, looking between her and his meal.

She laughed. "Territorial much?" Brushing her hands and lap of crumbs, she slid back down to her feet. "Okay. I'm going to get some sleep." She eyed the clock. "Drop your plate in the dishwasher when you're done and then get to bed… I don't want to see you in your lab today." She pointed at him. "And I'll be on the look out."

He opened his mouth to argue but she glared.

"One day isn't going to kill you. Everything going on in your head is still going to be there. Leave it for a day, get some rest, and you'll probably see it even more clearly." Turning on her heel, she started for the door. "I'll see you bright and early Monday morning!"

Pausing, he perked up in his chair. "What day is it today?"

Her laughter reached back to him. "Sunday."

He nodded, although his shoulders slumped. He wondered if he could get in some meditation before going to bed, but then a yawn interrupted him.

"Night Doc," Darcy's voice reached him before the door closed behind her.

Absently, Bruce waved a hand, despite the fact that she couldn't see him. His jaw cracked before his yawn finally wore away and he dug back into his breakfast. Finishing up, he drained the last of his milk before circling around to put everything away in the dish washer. The sun was breaking through outside, painting the sky a navy blue color rather than the pitch black of night. As he walked to his bedroom, JARVIS automatically closed the shades for him and turned up the lights to aid him as he changed out of his two-day old clothes. Fearing a shower might actually keep him awake, he climbed into his bed instead and let his eyes fall closed. He didn't imagine he'd sleep for too long and he wondered just what _Darcenia _would do when she found him in his lab.

He fell asleep with his mouth curving in a smile.

Darcy turned out to be more of a challenge than Bruce first expected, possibly reasserting the fact that she was more like Pepper than he'd anticipated. For the first week, she left him to his morning routine, arriving in the lab an hour after he had to check in and see if he needed anything, from tea to a snack or to paperwork he needed filing. Truth be told, he wasn't sure his desk or lab had ever been so organized. Of course, she had a system that he didn't get right away, seeing as it was what she liked to call 'Darcy Proof.' But after she explained the general gist of why she filed things in certain places, and the more he got to know her personality, he learned how to keep up with her.

The second week, (because for some reason she decided to stick around, even after Jane returned toting an excited, friendly Thor behind her), she started arriving in the mornings to make sure he had breakfast.

"JARVIS told me you've been meditating more lately and since you're a sucker for punctuality you're missing breakfast," she announced as she breezed into his apartment.

Sitting on the floor, his legs crossed, arms braced on his thighs, palms up, middle finger and thumb pressed together as he was mid-meditation, Bruce merely turned his head to see her. "Funny thing about meditation, doesn't really have a time limit and generally deserves complete silence."

"You've got some weird whale music going on, I wouldn't call that anywhere near silent…" She wrinkled her nose, pausing at the stereo to turn it off, "Much as I'd like it to be."

Sighing, Bruce pushed himself up to his feet. "Good morning, Darcy," he greeted, raising his brows. "Was there something you needed?"

"You," she said simply.

Bruce felt his stomach give an involuntary tug.

"Eating properly so I don't have to worry about you following in Jane's crappy scientist diet footsteps."

"Your concern is overwhelming," he said drolly, moving toward the kitchen.

"How do you feel about grapefruit?" she wondered. "Or are we still on that hard-boiled eggs kick of last week?"

"I'm not partial to grapefruit. But I do have fresh strawberries and blueberries in the fridge."

"Awesome. And I know you still have oatmeal because I was going to steal it to make cookies," she mused, walking past him.

"Was I going to _get _any of those cookies?" he wondered, mouth tilting in a smile.

"I guess that depends on whether or not you learn the all important 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day' lesson, brought to you today by Darcy 'Best Assistant You'll Ever Have' Lewis."

"Lesson learned," he assured. "In fact, I think it was ingrained some time in elementary school."

She looked over at him skeptically, standing in front of the pantry as she pulled out the bag of oatmeal. "If it's so ingrained, why are we having this conversation?"

He frowned, taking a seat at the island. "I've been…" His lips pursed. "I don't know. I've just been stressed out lately, so I've been trying to counter it with more meditation."

"Stressed out how?" she wondered, taking down a bowl before moving to the fridge to dig in the crisper for the fruit. "Because last time I checked, stress means there's something I could be doing to alleviate it…"

Bent over as she was, her jeans were drawn tight over her hips and displayed Darcy's other ample assets, emphasis on the _ass_. "Yeah, I don't think you can help me out with this kind of stress," he muttered, reaching up to scrub a hand over his mouth.

Scoffing, she stood upright and moved to finish getting his breakfast ready. "Trust me, if you've got stress, I can fix it. I mean, is it of the work variety?" She frowned. "'Cause yeah, I can't really figure out the equations for you or whatever, but I'm getting really good at scaring the little science minions into doing whatever I want."

He smiled slightly. "I know. I've seen you."

"And if it's not _work_-work, maybe it's something Avengers style?" She cocked a brow before popping the bowl in the microwave. "I get that my security clearance probably isn't there yet, but if you ever wanna talk about something, I've been told I'm an awesome listener."

"Something else Aunty Mary told you?" he teased.

"Hey, Aunt Mary is very rarely wrong. She's—"

"A psychic, I remember."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Psychic or not, she's got mad people skills."

"You would have to if you wanted to convince people you had mystical powers to extract money out of them," he returned, brow raised, lips pursed.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," she argued lightly, digging out a knife to chop up the newly rinsed strawberries. "And anyway, I _am _a good listener…" She frowned. "Unless you're Jane and you wanna talk about science… Or Thor…" Her eyes thinned. "But that has more to do with being able to look that little puppy-dog of a God in the eye later without blushing."

Bruce choked on air, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, she's a sharer," she mused, smirking. "The things I could tell you about Thor and his _hammer_…" she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Bruce waved a hand to stop her.

"Spoilsport," she muttered, before turning to get his bowl from the microwave as it beeped. Moving back to the counter, she stirred the porridge before grabbing up a handful of blueberries and sliced strawberries to put on top. "Milk?" she wondered.

"Please."

Finally, digging the spoon into the bowl, she pushed it in front of him. "And if it's not either of those, that means it's either Hulk or Bruce related…" Eyes narrowed, she stared at him searchingly. "So what's got you all tensed up, boss?"

That would be his increasingly attractive assistant.

Lately, it seemed it wasn't the fear of Hulking out and hurting an innocent bystander that made him think having a personal assistant was a bad thing. It was the fact that the person assistant happened to be attractive and smart and possibly the most tactile person he'd ever met.

To prove it, Darcy's finger reached out and tapped him on the back of the hand. "Most important meal of the day," she emphasized.

Giving a nod, he reached for his spoon and dug in. Two bites later, seeing her inquisitive face still staring back, he finally said, "It's nothing. I'm dealing with it." Seeing her unconvinced expression, he added, "I promise."

With a sigh, Darcy circled around to his side. "Okay…" She reached up and squeezed his shoulder, letting it drag across his back. "I have to stop in and see Coulson about some paperwork, but I'll see you in the lab… Unless you need me for anything?"

That flush that filled his neck every time his mind took something she said in the wrong direction, flared to life. "Uh, no…" He licked his lips and directed his gaze down at his bowl. "I'll see you there in…" He glanced at the clock. "Well, I'll be down there in an hour. How long is Coulson going to keep you?"

"Knowing him and paperwork?" She snorted. "I'll be lucky if I see you before lunch."

He frowned.

"No worries, Fluffy," she said, flicking her hand up to rub the back of her fingers over the faint whiskers on his jaw. "I'll bring you something good to eat." Moving away, she started toward the hall, and he watched her go, his hand briefly rising to touch his face where the warmth of her knuckles felt like it lingered.

"I'm thinking Thai, how about you?"

He smiled. "Thai's good."

Looking at him over her shoulder, she winked.

And Bruce knew then he'd just be getting up earlier for the remainder of the month; he was going to need that extra meditation, of that he was sure.

Over the third week, Darcy seemed to be testing his self-restraint as far as it would go. It wasn't that she wasn't competent; honestly, she seemed to know he needed things before he even acknowledged them himself. Each night, she let him have a couple hours over the usual end of the work day before she dragged him back to his apartment and they traded off on making dinner.

Originally, she'd tried to argue that it was her job to take care of him, so he really shouldn't be cooking for her.

"Technically, you were off the clock three hours ago," he reminded, stirring the vegetables in the pan. "So call it an olive branch instead of a job condition."

"Why, Dr. Banner, are you trying to befriend me?" she teased, picking up the glass of wine he'd poured for each of them. "Unless this is a seduction tactic," she mused. "Tequila would work better, but I can't say this isn't tastier."

Bruce fumbled, burning his hand on the wok as he moved abruptly, thinking to turn around and correct her.

Darcy was next to him in an instant, her brow knotted in concern. "Are you okay?" She reached for his wrist, turning his hand over to look at it.

Bruce closed his eyes and focused on his breath, but he wasn't sure if he was trying to push the Hulk back because the pain had triggered him to attention or if because having Darcy stand so close was making his heart race. He could smell her perfume; not oceanic like Pepper's, or floral like Betty's, but something between spicy and oriental. Somehow, Darcy smelled both like seduction and home cooking; like an earthy, base musk mixed with fresh apple pie.

His pulse skittered and he took in a deep, desperate breath, trying to focus, to push The Other Guy back.

"I don't think it's too bad," she told him, running her fingers up the inside of his forearm. "I can take over if you want? You can run it under some cold water…"

He shook his head and said through gritted teeth. "Darcy, I need you to step back."

"What? I—" She looked up, paused, and seeing the tension in his body, finally moved away, slowly. "Should I alert JARVIS?"

"No, just… Just give me a second."

He couldn't see her, but he thought she nodded.

"Do you want your whale music?" she wondered.

A smile he just couldn't stop tilted his lips. "No."

"Okay."

A few minutes passed with him focusing on his breath, before finally he felt his muscles relax and The Other Guy recede. When his eyes opened, he found Darcy at the stove, stirring their stir-fry. She looked at him over her shoulder. "Hey."

His brow furrowed. "You stayed," he said.

"Well…" Her eyes dropped for a second before meeting his again. "You didn't tell me to go..."

"No, I…" He swallowed thickly. "Most people… They would run."

Grinning, she waved the spatula, watching briefly as a piece of broccoli was flung to the floor. "I'm not most people," she said.

Looking from her to the broccoli, he nodded. "I've noticed."

She shrugged. "I'm told I grow on people."

Crossing toward her, he took the spatula from her hand and said, "Your Aunt Mary's a wise person."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "I do occasionally talk to people other than my aunt, you know…"

He raised a brow at her. "Was she the one who told you that you grow on people?"

Sheepishly, she turned to look at their food. "Yes, but that's totally not the point."

He chuckled under his breath, giving the stir-fry a look over to make sure it hadn't been burned.

Darcy leaned closer, peering down at his hand. "You want me to kiss it better?"

A flash of heat ran through him and for a second, he considered saying yes.

She looked up at him from the corner of her eyes and grinned. "You make it very easy, Doc." She rubbed her hand over his bicep. "You want your wine?"

Jaw ticking, he looked over at her as she walked back toward the island. "Now who's trying to seduce who?"

She laughed throatily, before picking up their glasses and turning toward him. "A question I'm not sure we'll ever have an answer for." She handed him his glass before taking a sip of hers.

Bruce tipped his glass and gently clinked it with hers. "To olive branches."

Her lips quirked at the corners. "Hear, hear."

Bruce wasn't sure if that night opened the floodgates or if maybe it was inevitable from the moment they met, but something changed. Maybe Darcy had read the intent in his eyes, the desire he felt swirling around him each time she was near, but she went from casually touching him to get a point across to finding a reason to reach out.

Bruce couldn't say he was complaining, although the constant cold showers, meditation, and overwhelming tension he was plagued with would argue that. After all the years he spent avoiding touch, avoiding anything that might somehow become a trigger, it felt good to let his guard down. It felt good to have the heat of a body pressed against him, even if it _was _through layers of clothing. It was encouraging the way her fingers circled his wrist or brushed his cheek or threaded through his hair; how she used the excuse of tying his tie for him to explore the length of his neck or drag her hands down his chest. How she traced the delicate bones of his wrist while she did up his cuff links, swiping her thumb over his pulse as it climbed with each gentle, lingering touch.

"It's seven," she said against his ear, lips brushing the shell. "I made pasta and stole a bottle of Tony's wine."

Her body was pressed up against his back; he could feel the swell of her breasts just under his shoulder blades. "I'm almost done," he said, his voice sounding thick in his ears.

"'Almost done' in Bruce-speak is _at least _another hour," she said, standing upright, but dropping her hands to his shoulders to knead at them. "You've got…" She eyed the clock. "Twenty minutes. Not including the elevator ride upstairs." She gave his shoulders one last pat. "After that, I break out the big guns."

He felt disappointment as her hands left him, but it faded as he watched her walk away, smiling at him over his shoulder. He was still staring at the swinging door when she was out of sight.

"You're a lucky man, sir," a voice interrupted his musings.

Bruce turned quickly, gaze falling on a sheepish tech. "What?"

"Sorry, I just…" He flushed bright red and pointed at the door. "You're lucky. Your girlfriend, she's uh, she's beautiful, and—" He shrugged. "She cares."

Bruce looked away for a moment, considered correcting him, and then simply gave a nod. Finally, he stood from his desk. He didn't need the twenty minutes. He shrugged his lab coat off and walked to the door. "Day's over, Mark. You should head home."

"Of course, sir."

"Goodnight." Bruce left, making his way toward the elevator. He _was _lucky. Whether Darcy was his girlfriend or not didn't matter. He had a beautiful woman in his apartment that he very much wanted to spend some time with.

Dinner often led to watching a movie. Or, after Darcy forced him to watch Dirty Dancing, doing things Bruce didn't general think he would normally do. Like practicing the lift over his head where Darcy ran at him and he caught her, acting as the Johnny to her Baby.

"Just channel some of your Hulk strength," she told him, standing at one end of his apartment, having moved furniture well out of the way.

Unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling the sleeves of his shirt up his arms, Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Darcy, you don't weigh very much."

"These are not filled with air," she said, cupping her boobs in her hands for emphasis. "I'm not going to go insecure on you here, Doc, but I'm not _light _either."

He motioned with his hand for him to come at him. "I'll catch you."

She quirked her head. "Fine. But just in case you go a little green, I'm apologizing now."

He smirked. "Not sorry enough not to risk it though, are you?"

She grinned. "No."

With a chuckle, he shook his head. "Come on."

She started running, giving a shriek as she leapt up into the air.

Bruce caught her and managed to hold her up over his head, even turning in a circle so she could get the whole effect.

Darcy laughed brightly before finally letting her legs and arms drop. He put her back down on her feet and grinned at her. Unexpectedly, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, pressing her whole body up against his, one of her legs even hitched around his, the backs of their ankles touching.

"I've always wanted to do that!" she told him breathlessly.

"Y-Yeah," he managed, his hands tentatively falling to her hips.

Turning her head, she kissed the space just under his ear. "Thank you."

She pulled back easily and tucked her hair behind her ears. "So how do you feel about Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights?" She raised a brow. "It's nowhere near as good, but you know how I feel about sequels!" Her mouth twisted as she bobbed her head side to side. "And/or remakes."

Bruce swallowed thickly, trying to shake off the feel of her lips on his skin. "If it's got a sequel, it's mandatory watching," he quoted.

She pointed at him before twirling on the tips of her toes and walking back to his couch. "You in?"

"Do I really have a choice?" he quipped, rubbing the back of his neck as he joined her on the couch.

She raised a brow before turning and pressing herself into his side, resting her head on his shoulder as she directed the controller at the TV. "Honestly? _No_."

Bruce gave a nod before wrapping his arm around her and trying to relax.

There were days this woman made him question his sanity, and yet others still that made him wonder how he was going to cope without her.

Sincerely, she wasn't just his personal assistant or the woman he carried a well of untouched feelings for, but she was also his friend. Somewhat like Tony, she prodded him to accept himself, green alter-ego and all, but there was a twist of _Darcy_ to it. She wanted him to share all of himself; from terrible childhood to gamma-ray mishap to tragic romance to going on the run to finally finding his place with the Avengers. She called it 'story time' and she'd drag one of his feet up into her lap as she sat at her end of his couch, putting one of her feet in his lap for him to rub equally, and then she'd encourage him to tell her something about himself.

It took him awhile to talk about Betty, and even longer to touch on his father, but eventually, he felt like he'd shared everything he could about himself. Everything that defined him leading up to his life as it was. There were little things in between, he obviously couldn't recite his life second to second. But the big stuff, the people who made a difference, good or bad, he shared that.

And Darcy, in return, shared her story.

Her mother Ellen wasn't always an alcoholic. Growing up, Darcy said she was a really good mom; the kind that always made time for her daughter. But scraping by became too hard and she took on a second job and then that job doubled her stress and before she knew it, she was drinking too much to numb out everything, including Darcy.

So her aunt stepped in, a self-proclaimed psychic with a knack for figuring people out enough, at the very least, to make a quick buck. Mary Lewis was a flighty, flower-child that Darcy said was sharper than most people gave her credit for. And she never once turned her back on her niece, instead raising her in Ellen's stead, picking her up from school, feeding her, teaching her to read tarot cards and cook elaborate meals.

Mary and Ellen's mother had passed away before Darcy was born, and their father had died when Darcy was so young she didn't remember her grandfather. Darcy's father had never been in the picture, or so her mother had always told her. Occasionally, Mary would comment that he tried or he wanted to but Ellen was too stubborn and never let him.

"Sometimes I wonder if I get my indecision for what major I wanted in college from my aunt. I mean, yeah, it's not like, hereditary…" She paused. "Wait, is it?"

He chuckled. "No. I'm sure it can be taught, or learned just from observation, but I don't think you're _born _being indecisive."

Darcy shrugged. "Well, whichever… All I know is I went through two different majors before poli-sci stuck." She shook her head. "And even then, I wound up in the desert interning for the wrong kind of science."

"Maybe it wasn't wrong… Look at where it took you." He motioned around him. "Like you said when you met me, you work for an Avenger; it's not something to be scoffed at."

She smiled, turning her head to stare at him, before giving his foot a squeeze. "So the rainbow bridge was a blessing in disguise for me then…" She nodded. "Okay."

"Indecision cured."

She bit her lip. "I don't know about that…" She leaned back against the arm of the couch and pressed her thumb into the arch of his foot, twisting it side to side as she worked the muscles there. "Wendy's going on maternity leave in three weeks… Her paperwork cleared."

Bruce paused, his fingers wrapped around her big toe while his other hand was cupping her heel. "And Coulson…?"

"He left a stack of files on my desk; he said it's my choice who to employ to replace me… He wants me to start with Wendy the week before she leaves so I can get a better handle on her job."

He nodded, staring down at her foot, at the chipped neon green nail polish. "So we've got two weeks…"

"Considering you didn't think I'd be able to cut it, I think we've done pretty good, don't you?" She wiggled her toes. "And besides, we can still hang out… Have dinner, watch movies… I just won't be the person forcing you to eat or changing your IV bag."

He rolled his eyes. "I hardly need a saline drip."

"I'm just saying… Dehydration; it's a thing."

He snorted, but refused to look at her, instead focusing on her foot as he continued to massage it.

"Hey," she said, reaching out to squeeze his ankle, her fingers brushing the dark hair of his leg.

He looked up, more in surprise that her hand was on his leg, under his pants, than anything.

"Bruce… you and me…" She shook her head. "We don't have to change." She stared at him searchingly. "I don't want us to. I—I like what we have here."

His eyes fell. And wasn't that a little bit of the problem? Because what they had…? It was great. He'd never felt closer to anybody before. Darcy, in just a couple short weeks, had bulldozed his walls and inserted herself in his life. But he wanted more than just a friend. As much as a part of him screamed that he shouldn't, that distance was smarter, safer, a whole other part just wanted to be with her. _Really _be with her.

"Yeah," he said, before forcing a smile. "Didn't you pick out a movie for tonight?" he asked.

She stared at him a long moment, before smirking. "It's horror-movie-Friday, Dr. Banner, prepare to lose your shit."

Given the horrors he'd seen in his life, Bruce merely raised an eyebrow.

Eyes narrowed, she told him, "Challenge accepted."

Denial played a fairly big part in Bruce's life.

That he didn't have the same rage his father had in him, causing him to be abusive to both Bruce and his mother.

That he could be normal after the gamma radiation had gotten to him, infiltrating his life and forcing him away from Betty.

That maybe he and Betty could still make it work.

That he could somehow control The Other Guy.

That he wasn't an Avenger and didn't fit in with their rag-tag group of time-bombs.

But eventually, denial had a way of slapping a person in the face with the truth.

He did have rage in him; it simmered so deeply that it was ingrained in him. His abuse manifested differently, however; it was all encompassing, casting a blind eye on any thing or person who stood before him.

Life would never be the same before he was exposed to gamma radiation; he would never be the same man he was or go on to do the things he'd done or wanted for himself. There were aspects that he'd regained since joining SHIELD, but there was no way to truly go back.

He and Betty were well and truly over, and truth be told, Bruce thought it was for the best. She deserved better and after all that had happened between them, he wanted her to have it. He didn't want her to look at him as the man he was before he found a center, what limited control he had. And now, knowing that she was married and happy, he couldn't say it was the wrong thing or that he wished it was different.

He would never full have control over the Hulk. But he was gaining enough that he could live and not regret it. That he could tamp down some of that fear and pain and recognize there was something good that could come out of it.

The Avengers, for all their flaws, were possibly the best team he could ever find himself on. The personalities of each individual didn't always work together; there were far too many egos in one group; but there was a collective mentality of wanting to save the world there, and he thought maybe that was really all they needed. A desire to do good.

Now he was faced with the denial of wanting Darcy. Wanting more from her than much of him thought he was capable or deserving of. Darcy, taking after her aunt, was a free spirit. She was untethered, throwing caution to the wind in the simplest of things. She took working for a man with a questionable history of becoming a green rage monster whenever he was excited or angry and just rolled with it. She met an alien God that fell from the sky and tasered him when he freaked her out. She made it her mission in life to be exactly who she was. If that was wearing Star Wars shirts to work while drinking a Big Gulp full of straight black coffee, then that's exactly what she did. If it meant dragging Jane out of her lab for some impromptu club dancing until three in the morning before returning to Avengers tower and sleeping off her hangover, then she did just that.

Darcy was young and beautiful and full of life, relatively scarred by her mother's lackluster parenting, but otherwise loved and adored by her aunt. She had her ups and downs and she occasionally talked about how she wished she just knew her dad's name, that was it. She was smart, if occasionally easily distracted, and she had a tendency to mother people if she thought they weren't taking care of themselves.

She was always there when he needed her and readily offered herself up for anything and everything.

She was impetuous, loud, stubborn, sarcastic, and above all else, loving.

From Jane, her scientist best friend who subsisted on coffee and poptarts, to Thor, the God who was constantly surprised by what Midgard had to offer, to her aunt, who regularly called to talk about work or what bizarre dream/vision she had, to her mother who made frequent drunk calls to complain about her life and about Darcy and everything in between, all the way to Bruce… Bruce who she spent so much of her time with, learning every aspect of who he was in between making sure he ate and slept.

Bruce, who was fairly sure he was in love with her.

But denial, a constant companion of his, argued that he was just starved for human connection and anyone would do.

That might have worked if The Other Guy hadn't intervened to show him different.

[**Next**: Part II.]

**Author's Note**: This story will eventually be NC-17, upon that time I will either redirect you to read the rest on LiveJournal or AO3, or I will simply cut the smut from the chapter and post it, because FFnet has strict rules on how 'explicit' fic can be on here. Not something I agree with personally, which is why many of my stories, if they're NC-17, just get posted on AO3 or LJ, both of which you can find me on under sarcastic_fina. I did want to share this one though, so when it gets to that point, we'll figure it out, yeah? Enjoy!


	2. Part II

**Title**: Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)  
**Song**: Lift Me Up - Mree  
**Category**: Thor/Avengers  
**Genre**: Romance/Drama/Humor/Tragedy  
**Ship**: Bruce/Darcy  
**Rating**: NC-17  
**Prompt**: Day #4 – Crimson | Darcy Lewis Week (I'm late to the party and I don't care)  
**Warning(s)**: Sexual Content, Coarse Language, Character Death  
**Author's Note**: This was meant to be a oneshot, but it got so long that I had to separate it into parts.  
**Word Count**: 8,738  
**Summary**: From the beginning to the end; how Bruce finally lets himself find happiness only to have it destroyed.

_**Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)**_  
-Novel-

**II.**

Three weeks leading up to this and Bruce was surprised it had taken this long. Between Darcy's constant need to touch him, the general stress of the job, Tony just being Tony, and his life's way of throwing a wrench into anything that seemed remotely good, he was genuinely surprised that it took three weeks before finally, he snapped.

He couldn't pinpoint what caused it. Maybe it was the beaker that exploded somewhere in the background, sending shards everywhere, embedding in his back. Maybe it was that somebody mentioned how big Wendy was getting and Darcy had dropped off three files of her top choices so he could look through them. Or maybe it was that this morning, after Darcy forced breakfast on him, she'd kissed his cheek, so close to the corner of his mouth that his heart had stuttered. More likely, it was all three.

The tearing of his lab coat and the ripple of muscles under his clothes was familiar. He screamed as he changed; everything inside of him shifting and extending. Control, of his body and his mind, transferred, and all was black for Bruce.

Oh, he would get flashes, of people screaming, running, ducking for cover. Of his fist slamming into a wall and taking out a large chunk of it. Of Darcy's face, peering up at him, just feet away. But the pieces wouldn't come together until he woke up, his head pounding, his body aching from head to toe.

The room was sterile white and smelled sharply of disinfectant; it wasn't the first name, nor would it be the last time he woke up in a place just like it.

Tony was sitting on his bed in the medical unit, one leg crossed over the other at the knee. He was going through the channels on the TV and making noises of disapproval. "All the money we have pooled together and all they give you guys is basic cable?" He scoffed. "JARVIS, file a complaint."

"Of course, sir. Would you like me to sign it after you or put it in one of the agent's names?"

He smirked. "Put it under Hill."

"Again, sir?"

"I like that pissy look she gets on her face."

As close to a sigh as an AI can make, that was the sound that left JARVIS. "As you wish, sir."

"Tony?"

Tony's head swung around, his eyes landing on Bruce. "You're awake." He rolled his eyes. "Finally." He shifted to see him better and tipped his head thoughtfully. "You look like shit."

Bruce's mouth twitched. "Thank you." His brow furrowed and he looked around, his body tensing. "Was anybody hurt?" He held his breath as he waited.

"Hm?" Tony was inspecting his nails. "Oh, no. Not really."

"What's _'not really'_?"

Tony raised a brow, seemed to think it over, and then said, "JARVIS, bring up the footage from Banner's latest Hulk-episode, will you?"

"If you'll direct your attention to the television," the AI intoned.

The bed Bruce was lying on automatically adjusted itself so he was sitting up properly and absently he thanked JARVIS for his assistance before focusing entirely on the screen.

He winced as he watched the lab go from a general work place to complete chaos, first with the exploding beaker and then with him changing, turning around to scream and growl at the scientists that ran around in fear, searching for exits or hiding places, completely forgetting the protocol put in place for just such an occasion.

After taking out a wall and scaring the crap out of a number of interns, the Hulk stalked out of his lab and started down the hallway, head bent to avoid the ceiling. A soundless alarm had gone off, green lights flashing to alert the rest of the staff what was happening.

No doubt the Avengers were grouping together to try and take him down, but before that could happen, the Hulk happened upon a certain personal assistant.

And by happened upon, he actually meant that _she _found _him_.

Hair piled on top of her head and held in place by a pen and pencil respectively, Darcy came to a stop just twenty short feet from him.

"JARVIS, volume?" Tony said.

The volume raised loud enough and with some creative work on the AI's part, managed to focus only on Darcy and Hulk, rather than the screaming, running people all around them.

Seeming to get a hold of herself, Darcy shook her head. "Hey Big Guy," she said, half-smiling. "Long time no meet."

Hulk bent forward, hands balled in fists, and gave a great roar that sent Darcy leaning back with the force.

Waving a hand in front of her face, she wrinkled her nose. "I _knew _that tuna sandwich was a bad lunch choice," she complained.

Hulk stamped a foot. "**PRETTY GO! HULK SMASH!**"

"I'm flattered," she said. "But unfortunately I can't let you go out smashing today."

"**PRETTY NO LET HULK SMASH? PRETTY MEAN!**"

"Pretty is looking out for you," she argued. "See, one, I'd rather you keep that reserve of strength on tap for the real bad guys. Which, I have on good authority, are probably going to be looking for you sooner than you think…" She shrugged. "And two, they're already sending people to take you down. So the harder you fight to go smash, the worse it's going to be." She took a few steps forward. "Between you and me, I think you have it hard enough without multiple doses of tranquilizer." She wiggled her hand side to side. "Headache isn't worth it, am I right?"

"**HULK NO GO DOWN! HULK STRONG!**" He beat a fist against his chest.

"Absolutely." She nodded. "Hulk is the strongest… er, well just the strongest in general."

Hulk nodded. "**PRETTY SMART!**"

She walked a few more steps forward. "I am. Which is why I want you to trust me…" She stared up at him. "I know it's not in your nature and I know you're probably very angry… Maybe if we talk about it, you won't be so angry anymore…"

"**NO TALK! _SMASH!_**"

"I thought we discussed that. No smashing today," she told him, wagging a finger. "You can smash all the enemies you want when Bruce let's you out to play."

"**BANNER STUPID!**" he declared. Shaking his head, he told her, "**NEVER WANT TO SMASH! JUST WANT TO WORK AND TOUCH PRETTY!**"

Darcy moved closer. "Hulk doesn't like Pretty?" she asked, pouting up at him. "I thought we had a thing going here."

Hulk stared down at her, cocking his head. He reached out toward her, and Bruce, sitting in his hospital bed, tensed, holding his breath. Hulk simply touched the tip of his enormous finger to the top of Darcy's head.

"**PRETTY SOFT AND NICE. PRETTY NO SCREAM AT HULK OR RUN AWAY**." He huffed, his face screwing up. "**BUT PRETTY IS BANNER'S NOT HULK'S.**"

"What if Pretty wants to be your friend?" she wondered, reaching up to touch his finger. "Would Hulk be Pretty's friend?"

Hulk ground his teeth together and frowned. "**PRETTY BE HULK'S FRIEND LIKE MAN OF IRON?**"

She smiled warmly. "Yes. Just like him. Only, you know, more attractive and generally more amusing."

Hulk laughed; a loud, grumbling, roar of a laugh, throwing his head back. As he came forward again, he stamped his fists down on the floor. "**PRETTY IS HULK'S FRIEND. HULK KEEP PRETTY SAFE!**"

"Can Hulk do one more thing for Pretty?"

Hulk thought it over and then gave a sharp nod.

"Will Hulk wait for Pretty and not smash anything today?"

He huffed, turning his head. "**HULK WANT SMASH**."

"I know you do," she said, patting his wrist. "But you'll get to smash when we have trouble. Everybody here in the building are good people. And this is our home; we don't want to smash it."

Hulk let out a long snort, but finally nodded. "**HULK NO SMASH.**"

"Good." She smiled, nodding. "Then we'll just sit here and wait for everything to calm down, okay?" Darcy sat down abruptly, curling her legs under her and resting her elbows on her thighs. "That way, you don't get shot and things stay relatively intact."

Hulk watched for a moment before mimicking her and sitting down across from her, turning one hand up and putting his head in it.

"**SITTING BORING. SMASHING FUN.**"

"Maybe next time, when you're out in the field smashing bad guys, you can show me."

He looked excited; as much as a giant, green, rage monster could. "**DARCY SMASH WITH HULK?**"

"As much as Darcy can." She paused. "Hey, you said my name!"

Hulk ducked his head.

"Did you know it the whole time?"

"**DARCY PRETTY**." He huffed. "**DARCY BANNER'S**."

"Darcy is your friend," she countered, reaching over to pat his forearm.

That was about the time SHIELD and the Avengers surrounded them; shield, tranq guns, bow and arrows, and Tony in his suit all standing at the ready.

"Hey," Darcy said with a wave. "So Hulk decided he didn't feel like smashing today. It was just a bad morning."

Hulk turned and growled at everyone else, baring his teeth in a snarl.

"Lady Darcy? Are you well?" Thor demanded, raising his hammer in concern.

"I'm fine, Thor. No worries."

Tony's mask retracted and he tipped his head to look at her, sitting in front of the Hulk with little to no fear. "Should I break out the whale music?" he wondered.

She grinned. "It would probably help." Looking up at Hulk, she said, "Why don't we try meditating, Big Guy?"

"**PRETTY WANT GET RID OF HULK?**" he asked, frowning.

"Not get rid of," she argued. "I just don't want you to be bored. Think of it like Christmas Eve. The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you wake up to presents… Of the bad, smashable variety."

"**HULK SMASH GOOD. HULK SHOW DARCY HE BEST SMASHER**."

"Oh, I have no doubts," she assured.

Suddenly, the hall filed with whale music.

"Okay," Darcy said, motioning to the Hulk. "Just rest your arms like this and turn your hands up like this and just listen… and _breathe_…"

Hulk watched her, brow furrowed, before he gave a sigh and tried to copy her.

Bruce watched as after a minute, Darcy opened one eye to check that the Hulk was doing what she asked, before smiling and closing her eyes to continue.

Seconds later, Hulk opened his eye to check on her, and then closed it quickly and continued to do what she'd asked of him.

Suddenly, the feed froze.

"They do that for about a half hour before you started to shrink again," Tony told him. "I got bored five minutes later and left, but I watched the feed of you two playing nice after I found out they dragged you back here. Wasn't much else to do."

Bruce stared at the screen, where Darcy and the Hulk were literally sitting just feet apart and _meditating_.

Taking a deep breath, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "She tamed the wild beast," he said under his breath, letting a chuckle escape him.

"What?"

Bruce looked at Tony and shook his head. "What am I supposed to do?"

Tony turned his eyes up, gave it some sarcastic thought, and then said, "I hear the house in the suburbs, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a mini-van is still an option, _but_ with the state of our economy…?" He inhaled through his teeth. "I don't know. I think I'd stick with forlornly admiring her from afar and pretending you aren't completely head over torn purple shorts in love with her…" He raised his eyebrows. "I mean, look at how well it's working for you? You pine away in secret, getting more and more sexually frustrated, turn into your giant, green, ragey self, and she steps in to calm you down… Just not in the fun, sexy way you want her to." He shrugged. "I'm not seeing any flaws here…"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Your advice is always so helpful."

Tony smirked. "I might write a book. Pepper says no, but the publishing company I just bought says definitely…"

Brows furrowed, he shook his head. "I sincerely worry about your girlfriend."

"I sincerely worry about yours," he countered, motioning to the screen. "She's got no self-preservation skills whatsoever… Seriously. She just walked up to him and said hello." He whistled before clicking his tongue. "Well, maybe that's good. It's probably why she's been trying not so subtly to get into your pants… She doesn't mind that you shred them all with your giant green body…"

"Tony," he sighed.

"So I'm getting the feeling this conversation might start leaning toward self-pity… You know how I feel about that." He wrinkled his nose. "And your attractive jailbait girlfriend is going to be back from Coulson's office any minute, so I'm just going to put this in plain English…"

He stood from the bed and smoothed out his shirt. "You're in love with Darcy, she's obviously in love with you—" He waved a hand at the television, "—as proven when she takes on your green ego and doesn't even bat an eyelash… Go, be happy, copulate like you so want to, and lastly, name your little half-green children after me, their all-powerful godfather. I think Tony and Tonya Banner are going to be happy, spoiled children that I may or may not already be designing Hulk-proof cribs for… Which reminds me, question…" His eyes narrowed. "Do twins run in your family?"

Closing his eyes, Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please go away."

"Fine. Sure. Get back to me! Or not, whichever, I can always have JARVIS look it up. No pressure…" He started for the door. "Feel better. Maybe tomorrow we'll get shawarma? Little pick me up? How's that sound?"

"Goodbye Tony…"

"Hey Tony!"

Bruce turned his head quickly, seeing a smiling Darcy walk through the door.

"Darcy," Tony returned. "I was just leaving. As you can see, your favorite doctor is awake and feeling just as grumpy as ever."

"It's probably just because yours is the first face he saw," she quipped, grinning.

"You wound me," he said, but smirked as he walked through the door. "You two lovebirds have fun. Bruce…"

His eyes moved toward him and watched as, over Darcy's shoulder, Tony motioned to his left ring finger and mouthed,_Marry her!_

Bruce frowned at him.

As Darcy turned to look, Tony dropped his hand and quickly walked away. Confused, she looked back toward Bruce, who smiled sheepishly at her.

"How ya feeling?" she wondered, moving to take a seat in the chair next to his bed.

He turned his head on the over-starched pillow and told her honestly, "Sore."

Nodding, she drew her legs up so they were crossed beneath her. "Makes sense," she mused. "I mean, Jolly Green Giant looks pretty big on TV, but _up close_…" Her eyes widened for emphasis and she nodded. "Not the simplest magic trick to quadruple your regular size."

"Maybe I should change trades…" His eyebrows hiked on his forehead. "You like rabbits? I'm sure Tony has a top hat somewhere."

She laughed, ducking her head, hair spilling over her shoulders and falling in a curtain that half-covered her face. "I approve of your post-green humor."

"Darcy…" he started, but floundered for what he wanted to say. Reaching up, he dragged a hand through his hair; the cord from his IV bumped his face and he paused, frowning.

Leaning forward, she reached out to detangle it, laying it flat against the bed as his arm retracted. "See? What'd I tell you about dehydration?" She offered a smile but it was strained.

Bruce stared down at her hand, fingers still stretched over the cord, tracing it back and forth, her eyes set on it, brows furrowed darkly.

He hesitated before finally covering her hand, flattening her fingers under his, tracing the edge of one of her chipped nails with his thumb. "Were you scared?" he wondered, staring at her searchingly.

"I was… not _not _scared," she said, nose wrinkling. "I… I don't know." She shook her head. "The alarm went off and everybody was running and I remembered protocol; Coulson makes me recite it to him every morning before I start work." She snorted. "But…" She bit her lip. "I don't know. The idea…" Her eyes darted back and forth as if remembering something. "I saw some of the agents getting their guns out and I just… I know you're basically invincible, but I had to make sure. And then I was just— I was right in front of him and he didn't flatten me like a pancake on sight, so I took it as a good sign."

"You talked to him… You calmed him down."

"He's really not that bad," she told him, smiling at his unconvinced expression. "He— It was like he knew me. Like he recognized that I was on his no-smash list. And I guess that encouraged me. Made me think, 'Hey, maybe just talking to him will help.'" She shook her head. "It was probably stupid, and I could hear you in my head, calling me impetuous, and Coulson telling me this totally wasn't covered by my health benefits, but I just… I had to try."

Bruce stared at her a long moment, before finally saying, "It worked." He glanced at the TV, where it was still frozen with the image of her and Hulk meditating. "Probably not the safest course of action and I really, _really _don't think you should push your luck next time, but…" He nodded. "Thank you. For—For caring enough to try and…" His throat burned. "For treating him like a human being."

Darcy turned her hand over then and squeezed his tightly. "_Always_." She rubbed her thumb back and forth over his knuckles. "Besides…" She grinned cheekily. "I think the Big Guy was kinda into me."

Mouth dry, Bruce reached up to readjust his glasses. "_Darcy_…"

"Hey, don't worry, I'm not gonna start something up with your alter-ego," she assured, waving a dismissive hand. "Pretty sure it's against the strict SHIELD dating policy; I mean, there's _probably _something in there about dating the Hulk, but even if it isn't, there's that no dating a co-worker rule in there somewhere. Not that it's really _followed_ by most people; I mean, I've got twenty down that Barton and Romanov are hooking up." She shrugged. "Still, even if it wasn't, how much time would we really get to spend together, right? Our whole relationship would depend on your mood and not getting to see each other regularly would cause a rift, and yeah, just way too much involved." She let out a long, dramatic sigh. "It's too bad; he probably would've been my best boyfriend to date."

Bruce's lips curled at the corners. "I'm not sure I want to know who you were dating before…"

She grinned. "So listen…" She sat forward, turning his hand over so she could trace circles on the palm absently. "I'm thinking you'll probably be discharged from here in a few hours. So after, take a shower, loosen up all those shot muscles, and me and you will do something fun, all right?"

"Fun?" He raised an eyebrow and let out a sigh. "Darcy, I don't think—"

"No arguments," she cut him off. "I'm not saying let's go hit up laser tag or go on a hike. We'll just… Go out, get something to eat, maybe if you're up to it, we'll see a movie." She shrugged. "I just think your life shouldn't be put on pause because Hulk paid a visit." She shook her head. "He stopped in, said hi, scared a few people, and then meditated the crap out of a hallway. Really, I think we should chalk this up in the win column and move on."

He stared at her, eyes narrowed slightly. "Most people, after they see me, see that side of me, they'd run… Or at least avoid me for awhile and make an excuse not to stick too close…"

"Yeah, well, most people suck." Standing, Darcy gave his hand a shake. "We're going out. I'll even talk Tony into letting us borrow one of us cars, all right?" She pivoted on her heel and started for the door.

"Darcy?"

She looked back at him. "Hm?"

He stared at her a long moment, in her blue-jeans and one-size too big New Kids on the Block t-shirt looking a little worse for wear. Her glasses were sliding down the bridge of her nose and she absently pushed them back up, a mood ring on her thumb glinting.

"How's Thai food sound?"

She grinned. "Awesome." With a wave, she said, "I'll make us a reservation at the little Thai place we order from." She clapped her hand against the door jamb and used it to propel herself left down the hallway. "Rest up, Doc!" she said in farewell.

Left in his empty room once more, Bruce let his eyes wander up to the screen. And his denial surrendered to the fact that was in love; whether he wanted to be, or if it was safe, or if she even returned the same level of feelings.

He was in love with Darcy.

There was something freeing about accepting that truth about himself. While he was by no means certain anything would come of it, it felt better to just acknowledge that it was out of his control rather than to force it to be something different. So he was relaxed that night, while they shared dinner, occasionally feeding one another something from their own plates. He was still tired, there was still an ache in his body from being stretched so dramatically, but it seemed to fade in the face of spending time with Darcy.

Darcy, who laughed freely and loudly, not caring who might be listening. Who argued politics with him and used too much soya sauce on her food and somehow found a reason to be constantly touching him. Who talked him into a midnight movie in some rundown theater with stale popcorn and watered down soda, hooking her arm with his and dragging him inside to watch some 1970's D-list horror movie, laughing all the while and shouting at the screen as if the actors could hear her. Who threaded their fingers together and swung their arms between them as they walked back to the Avengers tower, making him twirl her under his arm as she danced randomly at two in the morning, high off a cup of coffee she bought from a street vendor outside a nearby club.

She walked him to his door rather than the other way around.

"I had a good night," she told him, smiling warmly. "How about you?"

He nodded. "It was great." He smiled sheepishly. "Probably the best night I've ever had right after a transformation."

Socking him in the arm, she smirked. "You're welcome then."

He lingered, not sure what else to say, but not really wanting her to leave.

"I should go," she said, checking her watch. "We've got work tomorrow. Coulson put people on overtime to make sure the wall would be patched up by the time you get there tomorrow."

He winced.

"Hey, no worries, walls are inanimate. There's no hard feelings from that camp," she assured, rubbing his arm.

"I just hate that I'm any kind of inconvenience," he admitted, dropping his eyes to the floor.

"I'm pretty sure the scale is more balanced than you think it is," she said, nodding.

He scoffed. "Balanced?"

"Bruce, how many people do you think you saved when Loki attacked?" She shook her head. "Just in New York alone! I mean that's not taking into consideration how many others would've died or been enslaved when they took over the rest of the world…" Reaching up, she gripped his shoulders. "I think a wall isn't a whole lot to worry about in comparison."

Licking his lips, he nodded. "Maybe."

She sighed. "Breaking that stubborn, self-loathing streak in you is going to take some serious Darcy skills," she told him.

"Since you've only got a couple weeks, I'd say you had your work cut out for you."

"A couple weeks _working_ for you," she countered. "Everything outside of that is free game." She shrugged. "Don't think you're getting rid of me so easily, Fluffy." With that, she reached up to ruffle his hair. "Now get to bed, I have to be back here in… _Oh_… four hours to drag you out of bed and make sure you eat something before work." She grimaced. "Tomorrow is gonna suck."

He smiled, amused. "Good night, Darcy."

"Night!"

Bruce turned to drag his pass over the reader on his apartment but was hindered by Darcy moving in front of him. She bit her lip before moving closer and putting her arms around his neck, her front flattened against his.

"I promise you I'm not going anywhere," she told him, quiet as a whisper. "I don't need to be your assistant to want to spend time with you." She squeezed him one last time before stepping back. And with no more to say, she simply turned and walked down the hall to the elevator.

Bruce stared at the space in front of him where she'd been, before the ding of the elevator arriving and her climbing on drew his attention. When he looked back, she was smiling at him; she wiggled her fingers in a wave as the doors closed. A smile tugged at his own lips as he flashed his card at the reader and with a click, was allowed inside to his apartment.

Occasionally, he let himself think she might just feel the same way as him. And then he decided that even if she didn't, her friendship was more than he'd ever thought to deserve.

In the weeks leading up to her turn-over, Bruce waffled between being happy for her and believing what she'd said about sticking around, and on the other spectrum, worrying that he wouldn't get to see her anymore. Considering how much time they were spending together, however, he was fairly sure he was overreacting.

It seemed like his days were filled with Darcy, from the moment he woke up, he found her in his kitchen. She would cook them something while he meditated and as he joined her at the island counter, they would eat together while she caught him up on what his day would be like. Warning him that Tony would be stopping in to discuss something, or that Jane had decided she needed his help with something 'science', or that Coulson wanted to go over paperwork with him. She would bring up a magazine or a fundraiser that had asked for an interview or his presence and he would shake his head, putting it off. She would fill him in on what her Aunt Mary had said when she called the night before or what bizarre thing happened at work while she wasn't bugging him in the lab. And some mornings, when they were both tired, he would read the newspaper or watch the news, and she would do the crossword puzzle he always left for her, poking him with her toes when she wanted his help in figuring one of the words out.

There was a sense of domesticity to it that he found he really liked; that he'd missed in the years since he and Betty were together.

And at night, when work was finished, or in his case put on pause as she dragged him out of his lab, they would share dinner and a movie, like most nights before it. Sometimes she talked him into going out into public rather than hiding himself away and his anxiety over being around people, about what could happen if the Hulk suddenly pushed forward, began to ebb enough for him to be comfortable, to feel like he wasn't a dangerous menace that could go off at any second.

But eventually, it came to an end.

"This is Scotia," Darcy said, her voice interrupting his focus to draw his attention immediately to her.

Bruce's smile died on his face as he stared at the uncomfortable, brightly smiling, fidgeting woman at Darcy's side.

"Everybody just calls me Scooter," Scotia piped up, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. "I mean, you don't _have _to!" she told him hurriedly. "I just—It's just always been what they called me… Scooter Matthews." She shrugged. "'Cept for that one year they called me Scooter with the Hooters, but that was in elementary school and I was an early bloomer and—and I don't know why I told you that." She blushed a bright, fire-engine red. "You can just forget I said anything about that. I—I'm sorry." She winced, looking between them. "Am I fired?"

Darcy blinked at her before turning to grin at Bruce. "As you can see, she's perfect."

Bruce readjusted his glasses. "I already have a perfect assistant," he muttered, but turned to look at Scotia… or Scooter appraisingly. "You've done work in this field?"

"Oh, um, I'm a physics major; I studied at Culver." She looked between them. "This—I was told it would be a great learning experience for me. I mean I—I don't usually do the assistant thing, but I am an intern and I know that pretty much means I do anything anybody wants of me. So as long as I get to learn something, I'm happy to oblige."

"See? Eager to please and smart to boot," Darcy crowed. "Plus she's got that nervous, talk too much thing, just like me." She grinned. "It's like you upgraded, only I totally fit the hooters label better and I guarantee I make better guacamole." She widened her eyes for emphasis. "Which reminds me! You, me, guac and chips, and a Star Trek marathon tonight." She cut her hand through the air. "There's no getting out of it."

Bruce failed to hide a smile. "Seven?"

"You know it!" She turned, slapped Scotia on the back, and told her, "All right, Darcy Junior, I need you to make sure Dr. Banner here gets everything he needs…" She paused. "Unless he wants to work past 6:30, then there's no negotiation." She started backing up toward the door. "He hasn't had lunch yet; avoid grapefruit, spinach, tuna, and absolutely no mushrooms. He likes green tea; one sugar, two cream. Don't touch anything on the desk until I show you how to file properly. Don't play with the iPod on the desk, because I've already got his morning playlist queued up; don't mind the whale music." She nodded. "Okay. I'll be in Coulson's office if you need me."

As she turned around and left, Bruce merely watched the door swing closed with an amused half-grin, before looking up at the confused and nervous Scotia, who was picking at her nails.

"Um… So are you hungry then? Would you like something to eat?" she wondered. "I—I think I remember what not to get. There… There was grapefruit and tuna and… Spinach?"

He nodded. "And no mushrooms, I'm allergic."

"Okay." She looked down. "Is—Is there something specific you'd _like _to eat?"

He blinked at her. "What day is it?"

She frowned. "Uh… It's Tuesday."

He nodded. "Tuesday is soup day. Darcy usually picks up something from the shop two blocks over; they make homemade soups…" He shrugged. "And a turkey sandwich, on rye, no mayo, just butter."

"Sandwich shop, two blocks over," she repeated, nodding.

"You want to write it down?" he wondered, digging out a sticky-note pad.

She smiled appreciatively. "Is there anything else I should know?" she wondered. "I mean… If Miss. Lewis has a meal for every day, maybe I should learn them?"

Bruce ran a hand through his hair. "We'll discuss it after," he decided. "When Darcy's done with Coulson's assistant, she'll probably want to go over things personally."

"Oh, okay, sure." She backed up again. "All right, well, I'll just go get lunch then."

Shaking his head, Bruce turned back to his microscope and wheeled in close to return to work. But he couldn't help but think that he already missed Darcy.

Some time later, he heard a repetitive noise, like someone clearing their throat. Turning his head, frowning, he finally spotted Scooter, who was holding out a bag for him, smiling awkwardly.

"Sorry, I… I wasn't sure how to alert you." She shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't want to startle you."

"It's fine." Bruce reached out and took the bag from her. "I don't Hulk out at just anything," he assured.

"Oh! Oh no, that's— That's not what I meant!" She shook her head quickly. "I just—I know how I am when I'm working and I hate to be interrupted, so…" She dropped her eyes to the floor.

Bruce took out his lunch and started unwrapping his sandwich, seeing her lingering just a few feet away, tugging on her fingers. "Was there something else?" he asked.

Scooter bit her lip. "Um, Dr. Banner, I just… I wanted to tell you that it's an honor to work for you. I—I know I'm stepping into some very big shoes here and I don't want you to think I'm trying to replace Miss. Lewis, I just… I was really excited to find out there was an open internship with you and to even be interviewed was an honor, so…" She raised her eyes to look at him squarely. "I will try my best to be even a little bit as good as Miss. Lewis."

Bruce stared at her a long second. "When I'm done eating, would you like to know what I'm working on?" he offered.

Scooter smiled, her face lighting up with hope. "Really?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

As it turned out, Scooter wasn't the worst intern/assistant he could be stuck with. She stuttered a lot, tended to babble, and she never got his tea order right, but she learned Darcy's filing system quickly, she followed protocol to a tee, and she was always happy to learn under his tutelage.

Outside of the lab, Bruce was relieved to find that Darcy had kept her word. While Scooter was relieved of work at five o'clock, Darcy went out of her way to make sure he left his lab by seven, at the latest, every night. They kept their dinner schedule and even the breakfast schedule; it was just during work hours that he didn't see her as much. Occasionally, she would stop in just to check on him or see how Scooter was coping, but she was busy with Coulson most of the time, finding her footing as Wendy's replacement for the foreseeable future.

While their comfortable bubble of just the two of them fit Bruce just fine, it seemed Tony and the rest of the Avengers wanted to work on becoming a closer unit. Which apparently meant spending more time with each other, including the loose cannon that was Bruce Banner.

"So what's the big deal? It's just dinner," Darcy said, putting the breakfast dishes away in the dishwasher. "You _like_Tony."

"Tony forced his way into my life and I _tolerate _him, there's a difference," he argued.

Darcy snorted, rolling her eyes. "Oh, please, you two are science bros, and you know it." She wiped off the counter and tossed the cloth in the sink. "Bruce, it's just dinner with people you already know. People, I might add, that know how to handle you…"

"Natasha still flinches sometimes when I walk too close," he confessed, frowning.

"Which is why exposure will be good." Circling the counter, she hopped up onto it, sitting inches away, facing him. "She'll realize you've got better control and maybe the Big Guy will like her enough to put her on his friendlies list."

He eyed her skeptically. "His list is two people… I don't think he makes friends easily."

"Probably why the rest of the team wants to try getting closer." She shrugged. "Look, you said it yourself, Tony forced his way into your life… He didn't let Hulk deter him; if anything he encouraged Hulk… And me? Well, aside from my general awesomeness, I didn't let Hulk be some defining separation point." She shook her head. "So why not let the others see if they can't do the same?" She stared at him meaningfully. "They're trying. I'm not promising it'll work, but what's the harm? Most of them are basically invulnerable. So even if you change, you won't hurt them too much."

"And the others?" he asked dubiously.

"Romanov lived through it once; she's probably been preparing herself for a future attack just in case. And Barton's quick; he'll probably be in the ceiling with a tranq arrow notched before you're even done destroying one of your many attractive suits." She reached across to smooth out the collar of his shirt. "So?" She hopped down from the counter. "Are you going or what?"

He frowned down into his half-empty mug of green tea. "Is Jane going?" he wondered.

"Yeah, I think she said something about Thor inviting her…" She squeezed his shoulder. "See? One more person to talk science with!"

He clenched his teeth and looked over at her. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Well, I asked Coulson if I could put a bat signal on the roof and see who it lured in, but he just gave me that blank-faced 'how did you get hired here?' face, so…" She shrugged. "Leftover Chinese and a Vampire Diaries marathon, probably."

He nodded vaguely. "Why don't you… come with me?" he said, slightly nervous.

"Depends…" She raised a brow. "Are you going to play well with the others or focus all of your attention on me?" She raised a finger to stop him. "'Cause don't get me wrong, I love being the center of Bruce Banner's world, I just… think it would be good for you to make friends with the people watching your back."

He thought it over before nodding. "I'll be friendly," he offered.

"Good. Then I'll break out my LBD and naughty high heels and we're set." She grinned. "I gotta head; work's calling. But have a good morning and I'll probably stop by some time around lunch, all right?"

"Sure."

She reached out to squeeze his arm. "Trust me. We're gonna have fun tonight!" She wiggled her eyebrows before turning to leave.

Sighing, Bruce turned back around to finish off his green tea, wondering if she was right, and hoping he wouldn't somehow make a fool of himself.

That night, Bruce winced at the loud music that filled the crowded bar they were meeting in.

"I thought we were getting dinner," he complained to the woman at his side.

"This is Tony we're talking about… Pepper didn't make the reservation, so we got stuck with a Stark specialty."

Exhaling heavily, he placed a hand on Darcy's back to guide her through the throng of people crowding the bar for a drink. She pointed ahead of her to the table in the VIP section, sectioned off by a red velvet rope and a burly, no-nonsense bouncer.

"Bruce!" they heard, Tony's cheerful voice shouting at them. "And my, my Miss Lewis, you are looking _fabulous _tonight, aren't you?"

"I try," she said easily, before looking to the bouncer expectantly.

He drew the rope back and ushered them inside.

Bruce watched Darcy climb the stairs ahead of him, trying and failing to keep his eyes from wandering over her bare back and the length of her legs; her little black dress was a form-fitting piece that set off her curves in a way that was hard to ignore.

She waited for him at the top of the stairs and he moved into her side, eyeing the table of Avengers, plus Jane, a little uncertainly.

Darcy turned her head, leaning in close so he could hear her and so she didn't have to shout over the music. "We trust these people, remember?" Her arm slid around his waist and squeezed. "We're safe and we're calm."

His eyes fell, head turned slightly, his entire focus on her. The weight of her arm around him; the heat of her body at his side; the rush of warm breath as she spoke close to his neck.

When he looked up, taking her words to heart, he examined the table in front of him.

Thor was holding a large mug of beer and laughing a loud, booming laugh at something Clint had told him, who was shucking peanuts and smirking at his story. Jane was leaning in close to Thor, looking even tinier compared to his enormous size. Tony was to her left, his arms spread out over the back of the horse-shoe shaped bench seat. Natasha sat on the other side, next to Clint, stone-faced, though she ticked an eyebrow at Clint's story. And lastly, Steve sat next to Tony, doing something with his phone, his brow furrowed in concentration.

Darcy started toward the table, taking up a seat next to Steve and drawing Bruce along with her by his hand.

Bumped and suddenly aware, Steve looked up and offered a sheepish smile.

"Sorry ma'am," he said, shuffling over a little.

"Just Darcy," she corrected before looking over to his phone. "What are you playing?"

"Hm?" His brows furrowed. "Oh!" He held the phone up. "Tony showed me a game called Draw Something…" He grinned. "I'm doing all right."

Darcy's eyes widened at the drawing on the screen. "That's… _amazing_, considering you're only using your finger."

He shrugged, handsome face filled with a sheepish expression. "I don't always understand the pop culture references, but I've been working to bring myself up to speed."

"Cool," she said, nodding, before turning to look at Bruce. "Thirsty?" she asked, motioning to the waitress climbing the stairs to come get their orders.

"I'm just going to have water."

"All right, but I'm doing shots…" she warned. "So when I get sloppy, handsy drunk, sobriety isn't going to help you."

He grinned slowly. "Noted."

"Are we all here now?" the waitress asked, looking around. When she received a nod, she said, "Okay, what can I get for you?"

"Another ale!" Thor boomed, banging his mug down on the table and grinning as what was left sloshed, some of it landing on his arm.

"We'll take a bottle of vodka," Clint said, motioning between him and Natasha.

"Sex on the Beach," Jane said.

"What's this?" Thor asked, perking up.

"It's a drink," she told him quickly, sinking a little low in her seat and ignoring the amusement of the others.

"She's not propositioning you or the waitress, bud," Darcy piped up. "Proof in fact, I'll have a Slippery Nipple, also a drink, not a suggestion for anybody who might be interested." She wagged a finger around.

"Truly, you Midgardians make jest in naming your drinks such unusual things!"

"We're a fun bunch," she returned.

"Scotch," Tony told the waitress. "And none of the cheap stuff. Your best brand, unopened."

"Of course, Mr. Stark, sir."

Steve glanced at the waitress. "I'll just have a soda, please, ma'am."

"Water for me," Bruce added.

"Come on, break down the barriers," Tony argued. "Loosen up and have a drink."

"Considering I can't get drunk, I'm not sure what the point would be," Steve replied, shrugging.

"And I'd rather not tempt fate." Bruce looked to the waitress seriously. "Just water, thank you."

While Tony sighed, he let it go.

"I was told there would be food," Darcy said, looking to Tony with a raised brow.

"I've got reservations for us in an hour," he assured. "Pepper is meeting us there."

Bruce's mouth twitched at the obvious affection Tony put into his girlfriend's name.

"So!" Tony leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "Miss. Lewis…" He stared at her, brows raised. "I have to say, I wasn't all that surprised when Bruce invited you along…"

"No?" She stared back at him. "I imagine him agreeing to come at all would be the surprising part."

"It is an honor that you join us, brother-Banner! I was told you would not want to come!"

"I'm not much of a team player when I don't have to be," he admitted, clearing his throat and sitting back in his seat, raising his chin somewhat defensively.

"No, clearly you like the one-on-one approach," Tony said, smirking between him and Darcy. "Can't say I disapprove. I have it on good authority that personal assistants make awesome—"

"You should stop before you say something you'll regret," Darcy interrupted. "Either it'll offend me or Pepper and I have a tazer in my purse."

Tony paused, staring at her thoughtfully. "What are the chances you'll actually use it though?"

"On you?" She raised a brow. "High."

Thor gave a thundering laugh and brought his fist down on the table. "Lady Darcy! A great warrior she proves; wielding lightening in her hand!" He turned to tell Tony, "When first we met, she felled me with her mighty tazer! True, I was only of Midgardian strength, but still, the bravery she showed was honorable!"

"You tazed Point Break?" Tony asked, staring at her with new-found awe.

"He freaked me out and occasionally I get trigger happy."

"That's… unnerving," Steve said with a faint frown.

She laughed. "What's really unnerving is that Coulson has me training with real guns."

Jane's eyes widened and she sat forward. "Are you sure that's safe?"

"Sure." She shrugged. "He still twitches sometimes because I almost shot his toe off during the first lesson, but I'm getting the hang of it."

Clint smirked slowly. "You almost shot Coulson?"

"_Technically_, the bullet went through his pants… And since he's abnormally obsessed with his clothing, he said it was practically the same as shooting him."

"He is never going to live this down..." the arched mused gleefully.

"I can't believe he's letting you handle a gun…" Jane shook her head. "With _real_ bullets…"

"Hey! I'm not the one who shakes when she doesn't get her daily caffeine intake."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Well nobody's giving me highly deadly weapons, so I don't see what the problem is."

"You wield saws all the time!" she cried, her eyes wide with emphasis. "You weld your own machines half the time!"

"All right, kiddies, settle down," Tony intervened. "Jane, you should probably stop using power tools of any variety, and Darcy, I'd like a full report on what happened with Coulson." He stared at her, dramatically serious. "Most importantly, did he _cry?_"

Snorting, she shook her head at him, before turning back to Bruce, fingering the sleeve of his jacket and giving it a tug. "How are you doing?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Good."

In fact, he was feeling relaxed. Watching the others interact with and get along with Darcy was somehow comforting. He didn't feel like they were all holding their breath, waiting for him to snap or for somebody to do the wrong thing. Tony was being his usual self, initiating chaos where he could and snarking off whenever possible.

As the night wore on, Bruce let himself laugh, listening to stories told by Thor, Clint, and Tony, each of them having their own brand of humor. And if occasionally he felt overwhelmed with how full the room was, even if for the most part, he couldn't see the rest of the people in the bar, Darcy's hand on his or her body leaning into his, steadied him.

When the hour was up, they climbed into a town car to bring them to the restaurant Tony had reservations at, meeting Pepper inside. The atmosphere was a lot more subdued, letting him drop his guard even further. He was amused as he watched Thor eat more food than seemed possible; although Steve seemed to be keeping up with him to an unnatural degree.

Every once in awhile, in between talking to Pepper and Jane, Darcy would turn and offer him a bite off her plate while simply taking what she wanted from his. Bruce watched as conversations overlapped. Thor and Clint sharing battle stories; Tony and Natasha trading barbs; Pepper trying to keep Tony from being too outrageous while simultaneously seemingly to love that about him; Steve showing Darcy his Draw Something game to see if she could help him guess things that whoever he was playing with weren't drawing very accurately; and finally Bruce was dragged into a conversation with Jane, and then Pepper, and Tony pushed his way in to have his opinion heard.

Before long, they were sitting at a table with half-eaten desserts, empty wine bottles, a snoring Jane on Thor's shoulder, a tipsy Darcy, and a content buzz of genial conversation between them. The restaurant had emptied out except for the staff, who were unwilling to ask Tony or his friends to leave. Finally, Pepper stood from the table and announced it was closing time and they should head back to the tower.

Bruce helped Darcy stand, wrapping his coat around her shoulders as they stepped outside into the cool night air. She leaned into him, her head tucked against his shoulder as she played with a button on his shirt.

"This was fun…"

He smiled. "It was."

"See? I knew you'd like it." She patted his chest. "They like you."

He looked down at her, her eyes closed, and a soft, sleepy sigh escaping her. "I'm glad."

"All right, love birds, into the car," Tony said, motioning for them to follow. "Last thing I need is Coulson crashing the party and playing Supernanny to all of us."

On the ride back to the tower, Darcy fell asleep against Bruce, who found it hard not to look at her, constantly drawing his eyes back to check on her as she snuggled closer to his chest.

"I was not aware that you and Miss. Lewis were involved," Natasha said from his left, turning to look at him appraisingly. "Although, I had my suspicions when she managed to subdue the Hulk."

Bruce felt a flush fill his neck. "We're not. I— She's—" He ground his teeth uncomfortably. "We're friends," he emphasized.

Natasha's eyes fell to where Darcy sat snug to his side, his arm around her, fingers absently playing with the ends of her hair. "Your definition of friendship does not match my own." Her eyebrow rose. "You have feelings for her. At the very least, you want to share her bed. But you hesitate." She turned her face forward. "In my experience, hesitation only ends badly."

Bruce stared at her profile a long second before turning his attention back to the woman at his side.

It wasn't until the car stopped abruptly and she startled awake that he looked away.

Jane suddenly reached for Darcy's hand and dragged her out of the car along with her. "Have I ever told you how awesome you are?" she wondered, hiccupping. "You were an awesome assistant. Just—Just _awesome!_" she declared.

Tiredly, Darcy patted her friend's shoulder. "Yeah, awesome, I'm flattered."

Climbing out after them, Bruce sighed to himself, frowning when Tony appeared at his side.

Jane and Darcy walked into the tower, with Thor at their heels, ready to catch his stumbling girlfriend should she fall.

"Assassin Barbie's right… Of course, I was right before she was, but that's beside the point. What matters is you should make a move on that," Tony told him. "Women like that are hard to find. I should know, I spent most of my life looking, and what a fantastic time that was…" He turned his eyes up thoughtfully, before humming. "But, in the end, I found Pepper… Right in front of me." He clapped Tony's shoulder. "Maybe your search is shorter."

Bruce turned to watch him walk off, wrapping an arm around a patiently waiting Pepper, smiling despite herself as he turned his head to kiss her neck while they walked toward the building.

Letting out a sigh, Bruce followed after them, alone and missing a jacket, silently wishing things were more black and white and a lot less green.

[**Next**: Part III.]


	3. Part III

**III.**

Bruce blamed spending much of his life on the run, avoiding personal ties, never getting close to anybody significant, for the reason he didn't pursue Darcy the way he wanted to. He had a list of reasons in his head as to why they wouldn't, _couldn't_, work out. But then she would be there, in front of him, with tea or a smile or a story to share, and suddenly those reasons seemed insignificant.

They were celebrating Darcy's first official month as Coulson's go-to girl when things finally changed.

"Are wine shots a thing?" she wondered, popping the cork on the bottle.

"If they are, they're not a good thing," he replied, amused.

"Lame," she muttered, before moving to pour them each a glass.

"And we want shots because…?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Because celebrating and shots seem to coexist in my head."

"Jane offered to take you clubbing," he reminded.

"Yeah, I know…" She handed him his glass before joining him on the couch. "But I think getting blind-drunk and hooking up with some skeeze in the bathroom pales in comparison to what we did anyway." She shook her head. "You, sir, are hiding a master marksman under that dress shirt!" she told him, brows hiked. "Who knew you'd be so good at laser tag?"

He chuckled. "I did spend a few years of life avoiding capture; dodging you with a fake gun didn't feel like as big a challenge."

"Offended!" she told him, mock-glaring. "I considered myself pretty good before you came along and showed me up."

"You weren't bad…" His mouth twitched. "Until that ten year old snuck up on you and then it was second-hand embarrassment all around."

She laughed, throwing her head back. "I know, right!? That kid was seriously sneaky!" She snapped her fingers. "Watch, I bet in ten years he'll have Coulson recruiting him!"

Smiling, he took a drink of his wine.

Propping her feet up on the coffee table, Darcy sunk back into the couch. "It's kind of crazy when I think about it…" she said, staring off distantly.

"What is?"

"Me… Being here…" She shook her head. "I was just a poli-sci student, no idea what I wanted in life, and the next thing I know I'm tazing a God and getting a job with SHIELD…" She rolled her eyes. "Which, y'know, I didn't really know about before that, but now that I do it's like… _Whoa_." She laughed under her breath. "I mean, I work for a super secret agent that I _swear _is more psychic than my aunt…" She grinned. "He just like… _knows _things." She turned her head to look at him. "And I'm friends with a bunch of superheroes…" Her nose wrinkled. "It's bizarre and awesome and… _surreal_."

"Probably wasn't covered on career day," he mused.

She snorted. "No. Definitely not."

"But it's… a _good _kind of surreal," he said, staring at her from the corner of his eyes. "There's nothing you would change?"

Her eyes fell, smile fading slightly. "I have everything," she said quietly. "Great job, awesome friends, my own kickass apartment equipped with an amazing AI—_what up JARVIS!?_"

"Indeed, I'm quite fond of you as well, Miss. Lewis," the AI replied back.

She laughed happily before turning to look at Bruce. "But yeah… There's one thing I would change." She nodded, expression sobering as she leaned forward to place her wine glass on the table before shifting in her seat to face him, one leg folded beneath her.

Mimicking her, seeing how serious she was, he placed his glass down on the table as well, and readjusted so they were facing one another. "What?" he asked.

Darcy's lips curled at the corners and she reached out, scrubbing her orange-painted nails through his hair. She bit her lip. "My fluffy scientist," she said softly.

He raised an eyebrow uncertainly.

"You remember when I told you I wouldn't date Hulk, because it was against policy?"

"And because you'd barely have any significant time together, if I remember correctly," he mused.

She nodded. "I never really liked rules," she murmured. "I hate having my life dictated to me. Having _anybody _tell me who I can and can't be with…" She shook her head. "Just doesn't work for me."

Bruce could hear his heart pounding in his ears. "What are you saying?" he managed to ask.

"I'm saying…" She leaned forward, her hand sliding down to cup his cheek. Her thumb brushed just under his eye. He watched as her eyes closed, her eyelashes fanned across her cheeks, and then her mouth slanted across his. It was slow, soft, warm; gentle and coaxing. With a hitched, almost disbelieving, sigh, he leaned into it, his hands reaching up from burying in her hair, curling around the back of her neck.

She parted her lips, her tongue reaching out, dabbing at the seam of his mouth. And then it was tangling tongues and grazing teeth, their glasses clacking before she reached up and yanked them off, tossing them haphazardly toward the table. Slow kisses gave way to frenzied, heavy, lingering kisses that bruised lips and cut off their air supply. Her hands slid down, gripping the collar of his shirt and holding on tight, as if to keep him from pulling away.

She pressed closer to him, her body molding to his, the swell of her breasts heavy against his chest. She pushed him back on the couch and climbed on top, straddling his waist, chuckling against his mouth.

His hands fell to her waist, cradling her hips.

She grinned down at him and licked her lips. "Even better than I imagined," she told him, before leaning down to nip at his bottom lip.

"You im— imagined it?" he stuttered, his eyebrow ticking up as his hands slid up her back.

"A lot," she told him, pressing her hips down against his. "How soft your lips would be, how your stubble would tickle my skin…" She kissed the corner of his mouth. "If you'd taste like green tea…"

He was panting. "Do I?"

"Mm, more like wine now. I'll have to check in the morning." She kissed him. "And the afternoon." She suckled his top lip. "And again tomorrow night." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Compare notes."

He reached up and brushed her hair back. "Can't say I'd complain."

"No?" She rocked her hips and rubbed her hands down his chest. "Why, Dr. Fluffy, have you been holding out on me?"

Bruce leaned up to capture her lips again, biting her bottom lip. "Since day one," he murmured, his hands rubbing down her back.

"That long?" She undid the top three buttons of his shirt. "I thought that first week you were just tolerating me."

"With a healthy dose of pretending not to notice how beautiful you were, yeah, sure." His eyes darted down as she kept popping buttons open on his shirt. "Darcy?"

"Relax, your virtue's safe…" She grinned. "Pants will stay on tonight."

"Just pants? What about…?"

He trailed off when she sat back, gripped the bottom of her top, and pulled it over her head, tossing it away.

Bruce stared up at her, as she sat proudly wearing just a black bra, fringed in lace. He swallowed thickly. "Question answered," he muttered.

She smiled before leaning back down, letting her silk covered breasts rub against his bare chest, the fabric of his shirt parted. Taking his hands, she put them back on her hips before leveling her mouth with his once more. "You were saying something about wanting to kiss me since the first day we met?"

"Hm?" He was distracted, his fingers tracing up the soft skin of her back, palms warm against her side. "You caught me off guard," he told her. "First person besides Tony to see something other than The Other Guy waiting to get out."

"I've been told I'm perceptive."

He grinned suddenly. "I can't wait to meet your Aunt Mary."

Darcy rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. "You will," she told him. "She's heard enough about you, she's probably reading tarot cards on how our future will turn out."

"Tony says it's a bad time to buy in the suburbs and set down roots with our 2.5 children and golden retriever."

"Rats," she said dramatically. "The picket-fence life was so close!"

A low, rumbling laugh left his chest.

A soft, humming sigh left her and she dropped her chin to the tops of her hands, stacked one on top of the other over his heart. Tipping her head, she told him, "I love your laugh."

His smile softened as he brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Darcy…" He stared at her searchingly. "How thoroughly have you thought this through?"

She turned her eyes away in thought. "Well, when I got past the general thoughts of what it would be like to kiss you... How amazing it's going to be when we have sex…" Her eyes flashed before she offered him a close-lipped smile. "I'm not expecting the most normal life," she admitted without regret. "We live in a tower with superheroes and work for a secret government agency…" She bobbed her head side to side. "I'm not really the suburbs type and I don't know where you even stand on children. But I know that I feel something for you… Something that makes me excited every morning I wake up, because I know I'm going to see you…"

She stared at him searchingly. "And I know you have your issues, and you're scared about what the Hulk might do or if I'll get hurt somehow, but I could die crossing the street, so I'm really not all that worried about whether your green alter-ego is going to pancake me, especially since he seems to like me…" She dropped her eyes and trailed one of her fingers in a circle over his chest. "All I really know is that I… I _really_…" She swallowed thickly. "I think if I'm not already then I can definitely fall in love with you… and I _want _to."

Bruce traced the curve of her cheek with his thumb as he tried to process what she'd said, before finally he looked at her and took that last leap away from every screaming fear he had in him.

"I want that too."

She smiled, helpless to stop it, and gave him a nod. "Good." She dragged her hands down his chest and pushed up to kiss him. "Then we can recommence with topless fun times!

He laughed against her mouth, wrapping his arms around her.

For the first time in a very long time, Bruce made out with a beautiful woman on his couch like a teenager.

And when he walked Darcy to the door at the end of the night, she pulled him in by the belt of his pants, kissed him, and told him, "Best celebration _ever_," before walking out and down toward the elevator.

There was a skip in his step the following day.

Scooter was watching him with confused amusement, not comfortable enough to ask him what had him so happy, but pleased that he was in a good mood regardless of the cause.

When the doors swung open and Darcy came sashaying in, he looked up with a grin.

"Hey," he said, standing from his chair.

"Hi," she said, somewhat breathlessly, before, not caring who was watching, she leaned up and kissed him.

It was short, and as close to work appropriate as they could get, but it still left him a little dazed.

"So I'm going to be busy all morning with paperwork, but I was thinking we could get lunch?" She readjusted his tie. "And maybe tonight we'll go out somewhere nice?" She raised her eyebrow. "Me, you, a real date?"

"Yeah, yeah, that'd—" He nodded. "I'd love to."

"Great." She rubbed her lipstick from his mouth and smiled. "Have a good morning." She turned to leave, calling back, "Good work, Scooter."

"Th-Thank you, Miss. Lewis," Scooter stuttered, before turning to look at Bruce in wide-eyed surprise.

As the doors swung closed, Bruce took his seat, clearing his throat uncomfortably when he noticed a number of lab assistants staring at him.

Finally coming out of her stupor, Scooted grinned widely at him. "Good for you, Dr. Banner," she told him, when he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What?"

She blushed. "I just think you and Miss. Lewis make a really nice couple." She shrugged. "I'll go do my filing now."

After she'd walked away, Bruce turned back toward his desk, smiling to himself.

Despite any lingering fears, Bruce and Darcy's first date went off without a hitch.

Instead of going over the top, like Tony was eagerly telling him he should, even offering up his jet to take them anywhere in the world, Bruce went another route.

He took off work at exactly five rather than the usual seven, content to put his work away for a love overdue night. He and Darcy took a walk through central park, where she convinced him to try a hot dog vendor rather than going to any (far more sanitary) restaurant. When the sun set, they walked down the busy streets of New York, wrapped tightly together, with her hand hooked in the front of his jacket, absently playing with a button on his shirt. Her eyes lit up when she saw a sign for ice cream and, despite the chilly November weather, he gave in and bought them each a cone. There was something about cold, ice cream kisses that made Bruce's heart swell. And later, in the comfort of his apartment, they stumbled to the couch, stripped down to just their pants, and picked up where they left off, making out like teenagers with roaming hands and hours of kissing.

"_Ah!_ Tickles!" she laughed, squirming underneath him.

He grinned and rubbed his whiskered chin down against her ribs again, watching as her eyes squeezed shut and a smile spread her lips wide.

"Stop, stop, stop!" she cried, giggling.

He pressed a kiss to her ticklish skin before moving away from it, watching her face as she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and stared at him, her eyes half-lidded. Her fingers were scrubbing through his hair, raking down his neck before coming back to his temples and repeating the process.

She raised an eyebrow. "Not bad for a first date," she told him. "Favorite part is a toss up between the rocky road ice cream and us tripping over the back of the couch to make out."

"I'm up against ice cream?" He shook his head mock-mournfully. "I knew I shouldn't have bought you that… I'd be the highlight of your evening if it wasn't for your sweet tooth."

"You're pretty sweet," she said, tugging on his earlobe.

"Just not ice cream sweet?"

She reached down and squeezed his bare shoulders. "I don't know. You're getting up there."

"So I just need something to push me over-the-top, huh?" He lifted up onto his elbows. "One last incentive?"

"Yup, and I'll crown you champion myself," she told him, smiling.

"Hmm…" He crawled up the couch, watching as her head tipped back, feeling her hands ducked under his arms to wrap around his sides.

He dropped his head to kiss her, suckling her top lip and nipping it lightly with his teeth before he took her bottom lip and repeated the action, soothing away the sting with his tongue. Venturing away from her lips, he pressed kisses down her chin, ducked to her neck and licked a love-bite on her hammering pulse. His teeth grazed her collarbones, mouthing soft, wet kisses down the center of her chest before he turned his head, cheek resting on the curve of her bra-covered breast.

She was breathing a little deeper, watching him. He kept his eyes on her as his lips followed the curved edge of her bra-cup, mouthing across creamy, white skin. He rested his hips down against hers and held himself up on one elbow. His other hand came up to cup her breast, squeezing lightly, before his thumb swept up and rubbed down against the center, where he could see her nipple was pressing against the fabric.

She let out a tiny whimper, biting down on her lip.

She shrugged her shoulder of the strap as he pulled the bra cup down and out of the way, letting her pink, pebbled nipple free. He watched her as he leaned over to rub his chin against it, the stubble rasping.

She swallowed tightly and arched her back, bringing her closer.

He turned his chin down and dragged his tongue around her areola, flicking the edges of her nipple.

Her hips rocked sharply, her legs rising to wrap around his waist, squeezing.

"You're so soft," he told her, letting his fingers brush over her exposed skin, his thumb drawing ever-wider circles until finally it rubbed over her nipple and she let out a breathy gasp. "Beautiful Darcy."

He wrapped his lips around her nipple, flicking with his tongue, biting gently with his teeth.

Her nails dug into his sides before scraping up to his ribs. His hand slid flat against her chest, smoothing over the ball of her shoulder and sliding down the length of her arm, fingers drawing circles around her elbow.

It was a few minutes before he dragged his mouth back up to hers and smiled as she buried a hand at the nape of his neck and kissed him hard.

"So? What's the verdict?" he asked when they were left just panting against each others lips.

"You. Definitely." She hiked her eyebrows. "Ice cream can suck it."

Bruce laughed. "Glad I could change the tide of opinion in my favor."

"Well, you had a small advantage," she said, palming his cheek.

"Did I?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded before leaning up to tell him, "I was rooting for you the whole time."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "I'm glad I came through in the end."

She chuckled. "Me too."

For all their first date was a smash, their second date was a little mixed. What with his mushroom allergy flaring up when the cook didn't see the note on the order and them having to go home early, after Darcy made him stop at the medical unit to see if there was anything he could do to get the rash to go down. It wasn't exactly the best date either of them had ever been on.

On the bright side, Darcy stayed the night; partly because she was worried he'd have an adverse effect thanks to all of the mushrooms and wanted to keep an eye on him. And it felt good to fall asleep with her in his arms. He'd spent so long thinking he wouldn't have that again that just spending a night cuddling was one of the best he'd had in a very long time.

Of course, as sweet as cuddling was, things were never going to stay in that stage.

"So," Tony said, sweeping into the lab. "Third date? You prepared?"

Bruce looked up from his desk, blinking rapidly. "Sorry? What?"

Taking a seat on the corner of his desk, careless of the papers and slides there, Tony clarified, "You and Darcy, it's your third date, right?"

Cleaning his glasses on his lab coat, he nodded. "Yes. I talked to Pepper and she got us reservations at a nice restaurant."

"Right. Something black-tie, romantic, dim lighting…" He wiggled his eyebrows. "So you're prepared then?" He stared at him, eyes thinned questioningly.

"Prepared for what? Darcy and I have dinner all the time…"

He sighed, shoulders slumping. "For sex, Bruce. You and Darcy are going to bump uglies. Make the beast with two backs. The horizontal mamba." He glanced at him side-long. "I can do this for a very long time, I should warn you…"

Bruce frowned. "Why exactly are you invested in my sex life?" he wondered.

"Not invested, exactly…" He shook his head. "Consider this a concerned friend making sure that when Banner junior gets excited, he doesn't turn into a giant green Hulk and accidentally crush girl-Tony." He shrugged. "Wasn't sure how much investigation you'd done on the whole sex factor of your little green problem."

"Please don't ever refer to her as _girl-Tony _again," he asked, running a hand through his hair and giving an exaggerated shudder.

Tony merely smirked. "I considered going with Soulmate of Snark but I was really hoping you'd make that weirded out face… And you didn't disappoint."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Moving on… The Other Guy is triggered by strong feelings… Good _or _bad." He sighed as he put his glasses on. "But… I have a fairly strong grip on my control. And I think, given some patience, we'll be fine… More than fine." He nodded.

Tony stared at him, unblinking. "So you're going to try?" He nodded slowly. "I thought I'd have to try harder to convince you, but okay. Good. Glad we cleared that up."

He frowned. "Convince me?"

"Yeah, sure… You know, prod you into rounding the bases… I know you and Darcy have been making half-hearted fumbling in the not entirely naked direction. And I know you have all that fear over your control, so I figured you were probably holding back." He clapped his hands before rubbing them together. "But hey, if you're all for jumping into bed with your gorgeous girlfriend, then I can see my work here isn't needed."

"Sometimes it disturbs me how interested you are in my day-to-day life," Bruce told him seriously.

Tony grinned. "You know, Pepper said the same thing. But really, I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking… You're tense, you're frustrated, and now you've got even more temptation right in front of you…" He shrugged. "Do I think you should be careful, safe, make sure Darcy's on top?" He bobbed his head side to side. "Yes, of course. But I also think pretending to be a monk and sacrificing things instead of just adapting to them isn't doing anyone any favors." He hopped off his desk. "So we're good. Glad to see you figuring these things out on your own!" He pointed at him. "Good job, gold star!" Turning on his heel, he started for the door.

"Tony?" Bruce called after him.

He looked back at him, standing in the open lab door, head cocked.

"Thanks," he said.

With a smile, he shrugged dismissively, before walking away.

Maybe Tony's pep-talk wasn't exactly necessary in this case, but it did have a way of reasserting his own convictions. Bruce had made a lot of sacrifices in his life, but now that he had Darcy and he was gaining some control back, he didn't want to deny himself something that he deserved. That both he and Darcy should have.

The truth was, he never felt more in control than when he was with Darcy. There was something about her touch that calmed him, that soothed that rage simmering underneath, the monster waiting in the back of his mind. And maybe that was tested sometimes when he had his hands on soft, supple skin, but it wasn't enough to send him running. If anything, he pushed harder for control. He fought for restraint, to keep going, to enjoy every second he had with her.

And tonight, he was going to see just how far all of his meditation and control would get him.

Dinner was going well. The restaurant was exactly what Pepper had said it would be; there was faint, classical music playing, low-burning candles on each table, most of which were filled with couples, and the food was delicious. Even more appreciated, no mushrooms. Somehow he thought another allergic reaction would be a mood killer.

The only thing different from most of the meals prior to it was the anticipation that seemed to hang heavy in the air. Not so much in a claustrophobic way that made him feel penned in, but instead a warm promise of something more. He could see it in her eyes when she looked up at him from under long, dark lashes. He could feel it when she dragged her nails over his hand, across the inside of his wrist. Even hear it in her voice, a certain huskiness to it, a suggestive tone that crept into even the most innocent of things. He felt it in his gut, warming his skin, making him feel shaky and nervous, and in the same moment excited and content.

When they finally stood from the table and left, his hand settling on her lower back, he felt like the drive home would take too long. Tony offered them his town car rather than having them take a cab; it allowed for more privacy when they slid in, sides pressed close together despite a luxuriously spacious backseat.

They'd only just pulled away from the curb when he turned and kissed her. The angle wasn't the best, sitting as close as they were, but she rectified that by climbing into his lap. Her dress dragged up her thighs to bunch at her hips, her knees pressing down into the seat on either side of him.

Bruce dropped a hand to her leg, his palm splayed over where the black lace edges of her nylon stockings were held in place by garters that drew tight across her thighs. He traced the suspenders with his fingers, the tips so light against her that she shivered.

She kissed away from his mouth, tugging on his earlobe with her teeth. Her hands ran through his hair, gripping at random. His face fell forward, chin resting on the swell of her cleavage, where he pressed a kiss, trailing up to her shoulder. As she rocked her hips down against him, his teeth sunk into her soft skin and she let out a gasping breath against his ear, before pressing her face into his neck to nip lightly.

The ride to the tower was all exploring hands and lips. When they started to slow down, he fought for control to separate from her, her teeth tugging at his lower lip.

"We're home," he said, his voice thick.

She blinked at him before looking up, panting slightly. Lips twitching in a smile, she raised a brow. "My place or yours?"

"Mine."

The door swung open and climbed from the car; Bruce fumbled in his jacket for his wallet, tipping the driver, before they continued into the tower. Darcy reached for his hand, twining their fingers, swinging them lightly between them as they silently made their way to the elevator.

Every few minutes, he'd look over at her, as if to convince himself it was real; _she_ was real.

The elevator seemed to take forever, and yet somehow wasn't long enough. Anxiety was beginning to flood in again. Bruce let his worries filter back and started analyzing them.

Darcy looked unperturbed, apparently not at all worried about who she would really be sharing her bed with. He watched her for a long moment; was she really not concerned that he would turn? That he would accidentally crush her?

She turned her head and looked up at him from under her lashes. "What are you thinking?" she asked, before turning to face him, reaching her hand up to brush his hair back.

The bell dinged to signal they were on his floor and they climbed off, walking down the hall to his apartment. She didn't push him for an answer, but as the door swung closed behind them, she turned around, head tipped. "You're worried…" Her brow furrowed. "That doesn't translate well in the bedroom."

He snorted. Tossing his pass down on a table by the door, he reached for his tie. Darcy swatted his hands away so she could untie it for him.

He watched her fingers for a few seconds before his gaze wandered to her face.

She was chewing her lip as she concentrated, finally tugging the fabric free.

"What if I lose control?" he finally voiced. "I—I've been meditating and working on it, but… There's no guarantee in this and I don't…" He sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I just feel like there are all of these odds stacked against us. And they're always going to be there. I'm always going to worry that I'll—"

Her mouth cut him off, slanting across his to shut him up.

It was hard to focus when Darcy was kissing him. It was hard to do anything but pull her closer and meet each move of her lips, each swipe of her tongue, and trade each bite she gave him for one of his own.

When she drew back, she licked her lips, a smile faintly tugging at her mouth. "So we go slow… Test your limits…" She wiggled her eyebrows. "Sounds like fun, right?"

He squeezed her upper arms, rubbing them. "I just don't want you to be disappointed…"

With a sigh, she reached up and started undoing his shirt. "I won't be," she promised. At his skeptic expression, she added, "Look at it this way… Even if we don't round the bases and the crowd goes wild in one sense, I'm sure we can get it done some other way…" She tugged his shirt free of his pants and dragged it down his shoulders, dropping it unceremoniously. "But let's not assume we can't find a way to make this fun before we've even started." Taking a step back, she reached behind her and dragged the zipper down her dress. "Okay?"

There was no way to form words when her dress fell from her, pooled around her black high heels, leaving her standing in a satin thong and bra set. His breath left him in a rush and his hands twitched.

Darcy's painted red lips drew up in a grin. "I'm going to take that as a devoted yes," she told him, moving forward once more, her finger crooking in the belt of his pants and tugging him forward to meet her.

He stared down at her, eyes wandering from her face to her very attractive cleavage. "Beautiful," he said.

She laughed under her breath. "Genius resorts to one word sentences, all right." She nodded. "Ego boost to the extreme."

Bruce's hands settled on her waist, sliding around to smooth up her back.

Darcy arched into his touch, bringing her mouth equal with his. "Let's take this into the bedroom."

She started stepping backwards and Bruce simply followed...

* * *

_-For the actual smut __(because FFnet doesn't allow it on here)_, you'll have to read it over on my LJ or AO3 accounts, under sarcastic_fina. Sorry folks.

_Kind of important fact, to make the rest of the chapter make sense, Bruce tells Darcy he loves her, post-foreplay and literally **just** before they have sex, leaving her no chance of saying it back.-_

* * *

Hours later, when they finally laid back down, Bruce felt both old and young. Old because everything ached, and young because he knew it had more to do with marathon sex than just his age in general. Darcy cuddled up next to him in one of his shirts, her head on his shoulder, her hair still wet, soaking into his pillow and across his arm.

"I'm going to take a leap and say that was the best sex ever," she told him. "Like, somewhere out there, a record has been broken." She waved a hand. "I'm not going to call Ripley's, but just, y'know, let it be known…"

He chuckled. "I sincerely hope we didn't peak on our first try."

"It's always good to have goals, Doc… Although if it got any better than that, it might just kill me." She snuggled her face against his chest and sighed. "I'm tired…"

He smiled. "Go to sleep then."

She snorted. "And not talk about your declaration of love? Yeah, don't think I forgot about that!"

Bruce chewed the inside of his cheek. "You don't have to say it back."

She turned her head up to look at him. "I'm not."

He flinched.

"Not because I don't feel it," she amended. "But because if I said it now, you'd be wondering if I meant it or if it was just the awesome sex." She shook her head. "So when I do say it, I want you to know it's true. And not because all my lady parts are still buzzing."

He tried to stifle a smile and failed.

She rubbed her hand over his chest. "Now go to sleep…" She yawned. "We have an early morning and Tony's going to be bugging you for details during half of it." Dropping her head back to his chest, she slid a leg up over his and hummed contently.

Bruce could feel as she relaxed into sleep just minutes later, her warm breath skittering over his skin.

Kissing her forehead, he laid his head back and let himself smile.

For the first time in a long time, he felt completely at ease. Every muscle, every nerve-ending, was just calm.

Closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep, free of nightmares and fear and anger.

The next morning, he and Darcy went through their normal routine, only this time they were waking up together. She traded his shirt for her dress and he made breakfast while she prepared his tea. He kissed her on the elevator, lingering, considering calling in sick (not that anybody would believe him) and dragging her back up to his bed. Finally, she drew back, licking her lips, promising they'd pick up where they left off later. She climbed off on her floor to change clothes before starting work, and he grinned widely as he made his way to the lab.

He wasn't surprised to find Tony already there, bothering Scooter, who was juggling three inch thick file folders in her hands while trying to pay attention to him and his unusual train of thought but losing the battle quickly.

"Tony, leave my assistant alone," Bruce sighed, moving to take a seat at his desk.

"We were getting along just fine. I was being friendly, I promise." He waved a dismissive hand at Scooter. "You can go now, Moped. I'll just ask Brucey here about his date himself…" He eyed the scientist speculatively before smirking. "You look relaxed."

Bruce cast a cocked eyebrow at him. "I _am _relaxed. What can I help you with?"

"Well…" He started fiddling with a double helix desk ornament. "Since the med-bay didn't admit a crushed Darcy, I assume you were able to reign in the big green beast for a night of passion." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Congratulations are in order, I assume."

His mouth twitched with amusement. "Thank you. I'll pass it on," he said, reaching out to grab the ornament from Tony's hand, putting it back on his desk. "Is that all?"

"What? You don't want to catch up, trade experiences, tell me if she has any incriminating tattoos with interesting back stories I might like to know about…" He stared at him. "Maybe ask for tips, since you haven't gotten laid in awhile and things were probably _terribly_ vanilla…" He shook his head in mock disappointment.

Bruce shook his head. "I really don't."

"Fine…" he sighed, hopping off his desk. "I'll just ask JARVIS for the surveillance tape." He started walking away.

"Tony…" he sighed warningly.

The billionaire philanthropist tossed a smirk back at him. "You're far too easy…" His eyes darted away. "Or maybe it's just Darcy's influence, you little tramp."

He laughed slightly. "Go away."

"Going." He waved a hand behind his head before walking out of the lab.

Good mood still very much in tact, Bruce turned back to his work.

After the initial fear of somehow being the root cause that might make their relationship too different to work, Darcy and Bruce settled into normal life, with the added benefit of each other. Their routine didn't vary much during the day, while at night friendly dinners became dates that eventually led to them stripping off their clothes and climbing into bed. Or on many occasions, spreading out on the couch or testing the coffee table, the kitchen counters, sprawling on the floor of his meditation room, and a few warm nights they even ventured onto the balcony outside his apartment. The more they pushed his limits, they better he was at controlling that other side of him. After a couple months, he hardly turned green anymore.

"Sometimes I miss it," she told him, tracing a finger around his bicep. "I mean, it was like some part of you was saying being with me was so intense you couldn't help yourself." She shrugged. "I know it's stupid, because it was dangerous, but still… It was kind of cool."

Bruce pushed her back on the bed and slid between her thighs. "It's always intense with you," he promised, dragging her hands up above her head.

She grinned. "Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm…" He nuzzled her cheek. "Amazing."

She wrapped her legs around his waist. "Mind-blowing?"

He chuckled. "Completely."

"Good." She leaned up and kissed him. "'Cause that's how it feels on this end."

As much as they'd found their even footing, there were still times that things weren't always easy.

Despite the fact that he was basically impenetrable, Darcy was still scared when he went out on missions. Probably because when he returned, he always looked like crap. Waking up in the medical bay, weak and bruised and feeling like he'd been trampled didn't help much. Finding Darcy curled up in a chair next to him, her knees tucked up against her chest, her lower lip dry with blood from how she'd been chewing on it, her skin pale, was even worse.

Sometimes he let her sleep; she looked like she needed it. Others he woke her up so she'd climb into bed with him. As scared as she was for him, she never told him she didn't like it or that she wanted him to stop. She just wanted to make it stop hurting as much.

He stroked her hair, the light of the moon the only thing filtering in through the window, highlighting them in a pale blue. "Sometimes, I tell myself that it's worth it… 'Cause if you ever get hurt, I can save you… That's—It's what superheroes do right? We don't just save the world, we save people we love…"

She turned her head up to look at him. "You're an amazing person, Bruce. Nobody sacrifices as much as you do to be this person and to do these things. And when I see you out there, even when I'm scared shitless, I—I'm _proud_." She scrubbed her fingers down his whiskered cheek. "I just wish it didn't hurt you so much." She blinked quickly as her eyes burned and tried to smile. "I don't ever want you to hurt yourself for me."

He rubbed his hands down her back. "I can't promise that."

She nodded, sniffling. "I know." She snuggled closer to him. "God, you're so stubborn…" she complained.

He snorted. "You're one to talk."

"Hey! I've been told my bullheadedness is adorable!"

"That reminds me, your Aunt Mary called, she wants to visit next week," he told her.

"What?" She looked up, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, she's going to be in town next week and she says she's camping out on your couch." He frowned. "I think JARVIS directed her call to my apartment, but you were in the shower. I wrote it down but we got called out before I could tell you."

"Oh…" She relaxed back against him. "Well, that could be cool, right? I mean, you always said you wanted to meet her."

He nodded. Pulling the blanket up higher, he tucked it around her. "She asked me if my hair was as fluffy as you said it was."

Darcy laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like her."

Bruce shook his head. He imagined two Lewis women were going to be a handful.

And he was right.

[**Next**: Part IV.]


	4. Part IV

**IV.**

When Bruce was introduced to Mary Lewis, she ignored his offered hand shake and instead pulled him in for a hug, smacking a kiss against his cheek that he could _feel _left a thick lipstick print, and telling him in no uncertain terms, "If you knock up my niece before I see a ring on her finger, I will taze you in the balls."

Patting her shoulder, he simply nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me." Cheerfully, she told him, "It's Auntie Mary or you can call me by my psychic handle, _Mystic_ Mary."

Rubbing the back of his neck with uncertainty, he said, "Can Mary work until we know each other better?"

She grinned toothily. "I'll have you calling me auntie by the end of the week!" she declared. Not bothering to wait for a reply, she clapped her hands and took a step back. "So lunch?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes! We have reservations!" Darcy agreed.

Mary hooked her elbow with her niece and waved an arm, where a number of silver bracelets jangled. "Lead on!"

They swept off down the sidewalk with Bruce moving to catch up.

Free spirit was just a nice way of saying eccentric, he realized. Mary was a woman who liked flowy, gauzy clothes, randomly tossed out 'visions', and had a mood ring for every finger and, he was pretty sure, every toe. Her brown hair, streaked with silver, was piled on top of her head in a mess of curls, with a random pencil struck through it that she would pull out and use to write 'note to self's' on whatever scrap of paper was available.

He saw her write 'did I leave the stove on?' three separate times before he started to sincerely worry.

Darcy, seeing his expression, leaned over and told him, "It's okay. I always call that super at her apartment and he checks whenever she leaves town. She never does, but it's like a weird fear of hers or something…"

Mildly relieved, he sat back and tried to focus on Mary's story about a reading she'd done for one of her neighbors, who was "very obviously being haunted by her cat that died last year."

But for all her eccentricities, Mary seemed to really love Darcy, doting on her, reaching out to cup her cheek and pet her hair and tell her how proud she was of her and all her accomplishments. She showed him pictures she'd brought along specifically because she wanted to embarrass her niece in front of her 'beau.' And she even seemed to warm up to him when she found him simply watching Darcy, her hands waving around animatedly, as she told a story about Tony and one of his robots.

When Darcy wandered off to the bathroom, there was an awkward pause, a lull in the conversation. There were things Bruce wanted to say, but he couldn't seem to find the right starter.

Mary folded and unfolded her napkin before saying, "You really love her."

He looked over at her, realizing he was about to get the 'what-are-your-intentions' talk and gave a serious nod. "I do."

Mary, who he'd thought was more of the flighty type, pinned him with a stare so focused she might've put Hawkeye to shame. "Bruce, Darcy is a special girl… For everything bad that's ever happened in her life, she just picked up her feet and kept moving. Even with her mom trying to drag her back into her life, and sometimes even succeeding, Darcy doesn't let it get her down. She's a smart cookie." She waved her hand side to side dismissively. "Oh, a little indecisive when it came to school, but always brighter than the average person…" She nodded, lips curled in a smile. "Insightful. Warm. Friendly."

Bruce nodded, agreeing; she was all of those things.

"And when it comes to love, she puts her all into it." Mary's face darkened. "And she pretends it doesn't hurt when people don't feel the same or they leave her or they're too drunk to give her the attention she deserves…" She huffed a little breath and started examining her mood rings. "My feelings are all over the place…" she murmured, tapping the colorful tops. "I don't know if I'm trying to scare you off or keep you around."

Bruce's mouth curled faintly. "You _couldn't_ scare me off." He shook his head. "I've done my own fair share of doubting what she and I could have together. Whether I'm good enough or she'd be happier with someone else…" He stared at her thoughtfully. "And sometimes I even convince myself that she would. But…" He shrugged. "Maybe I'm selfish, but I'm not letting her go." He pursed his lips and nodded. "As long as she wants me, I'm hers."

Mary stared at him speculatively. "You're lucky to have her…" she said, pausing a moment before adding, "Maybe she's lucky to have you too."

"I hope so," he said.

A few seconds passed and he took a long drink from his ice water.

Finally, just as he spotted Darcy returning, Mary asked, "You think they'll mind if I take the napkin?"

A laugh broke free that he couldn't smother as Darcy sat down, brows furrowed. "What's so funny?"

Mary simply shrugged, smiling, her napkin mysteriously missing from the table.

Bruce felt infinitely more comfortable with the woman after that and for good reason. Mary made it a point to include him in everything.

When Bruce informed them that he'd asked Tony for tickets so two of them could enjoy a Broadway play, she told him simply, "Get a third and come with."

When Darcy suggested she and Mary would be going ice skating in Central Park, Mary looked him up and down and said, "Dress warmly, and maybe something padded; I'll be taking you down with me when I keep falling all over the place."

Even when they were baking together, she handed him the measuring cups with an off-handed, "You're a scientist aren't you? Measuring should come easy to you."

By the third day of her week-long visit, Bruce had hardly seen the inside of his lab. Not that he was complaining; he actually liked being involved with everything. Although he was quick to tell Darcy, as she snuck out of her apartment and visited him in his while her aunt was snoring on her couch, that if she wanted to spend some time alone with Mary, just say the word.

"Are you kidding? She _loves _you! After you leave at night, she's practically got us married off! She has a list of names!" Her eyes widened for emphasis as she turned to look up at him from where she was curled up close to his side on the couch. "She thinks our first child should honor my great-uncle Alfred because, despite never meeting me, his spirit supposedly hangs around and keeps an eye out for me." She rolled her eyes. "I don't know if that's supposed to be comforting, mostly it's just creepy."

"Her naming our future children or you being semi-haunted by a relative?"

"The relative thing," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "If she's naming our kids, it's comforting. Means she likes you!" She grinned. "I mean it probably helps that you're being such a good sport… I don't know how many times she can throw out a vision that leaves her so drained she has to grip your arm for balance and pet your hair, but whatever."

"I thought she was getting a little melodramatic and handsy, but I wasn't going to say anything…" He smiled to himself. "Besides, I think the hair-petting thing just runs in the family."

"It's very pettable," she told him, reaching up to brush her fingers through his hair, biting her lip as she smiled.

"I'm glad she likes me," he admitted, squeezing his arm around her. "Plus, it's always good to have a psychic on your side… Who knows, maybe Coulson will recruit her!"

Snorting, Darcy slapped his chest.

Chuckling, Bruce caught her hand and held it in his, tracing her knuckles with his forefinger. "She's a really nice woman," he said sincerely.

"Yeah, she is." She sighed, snuggling her face against his chest. "I like having her here. I mean Coulson texts me at least twice a day asking me if my vacation is over yet and complains about how my temp sucks, but that's oddly comforting in terms of job security." She shrugged. "And I'm really glad you guys are getting along. I was a little… worried."

He raised a brow. "Really?"

"She…" Her eyes narrowed as she played with a button on his shirt. "Hasn't ever really liked anybody I was dating."

He went still. "_Nobody?_"

She nodded slowly.

"And you never _warned _me?"

She laughed slightly, turning her head up. "I thought it might freak you out, put the pressure on or something…" She rubbed his chest. "I wanted you to be relaxed and yourself, not put on a show so she'd like you better." She smiled. "And it worked, see? So no worries!"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "What if she didn't?"

"I don't know… I guess I'd just have to convince her you were amazing, maybe make you guys spend time together until she figured it out herself…"

"But you wouldn't have taken her opinion too much to heart?" he wondered.

"What? You mean if she tossed out a 'random' vision that suggested we shouldn't stay together?" She snorted. "Bruce, I wouldn't have broken up with you because my aunt didn't like you…"

"She's a very important person in your life…The _closest _person in your life."

"Yes, she is." She wrapped her arm around his waist and squeezed. "Which is why I wanted her and the other closest person in my life to get along. And see? It all turned out great, because I have _awesome _taste in who I choose to keep close."

He ran his fingers through hair, his brows furrowed in thought. Kissing the top of her head, he hugged her closer and closed his eyes, relaxing. It would be almost an hour later before she dragged him off to bed, stripping down and crawling in next to him. And at six the next morning, she was kissing him quickly and telling him she'd see him in a few hours before she snuck back down to her apartment before her aunt woke up, a routine they'd begun since the first night Mary spent in town.

After taking out Mary and Darcy for breakfast later that morning, they decided to visit an art museum, where he found out about Darcy's love of expressionism and Mary's dislike for abstract. Bruce lingered over the fauvism, enjoying the bright and wild colors, even if the collection was quite small.

"Matisse," Mary said, coming to stand next to him.

Hands tucked behind his back, he turned to look at her in surprise, not having heard her come up. "Yes…" He smiled sheepishly. "I didn't want to get in the middle of your and Darcy's argument about whether cubism was or wasn't too close to abstract to be called anything else."

Mary merely smiled ruefully. "So you left us to it and instead found a completely other form of art…" She tipped her head and stared at the painting in front of him. "Fauvism was only around four years… Matisse was the founder," she told him. "I believe they have some of his sculptures in this museum too, don't they?"

Bruce dug in his pocket for the brochure he'd plucked up when they'd entered the museum.

"If I remember my art history, Matisse once said that he especially liked to paint women because he thought they held the answers to life's mysteries."

Bruce looked at her, brows hiked, before his gaze darted past to land on Darcy, who was leaning in close and inspecting the details of an impressionistic painting. She was chewing her lip, smiling, and letting her eyes wander from top to bottom and then back again, like she was trying to memorize every inch.

"He wasn't wrong," Bruce told her, smiling fondly as Darcy, feeling his eyes on her, looked over and winked at him.

"I'm getting hungry," Mary said suddenly, before moving to hook her arm with his. "Why don't we collect my darling niece, get some lunch, and then see what that flea market she was talking about earlier is all about?"

After a quick bite to eat, the rest of the day was spent at the Brooklyn Flea Market, where over a hundred street vendors had collected together to sell everything from food to handmade clothing and jewelry. Not surprisingly, Mary was quick to find a vendor selling colorful stones, gauzy scarves, and crystals of all sizes. She seemed to try on every piece of jewelry the vendor had to offer before paying special attention to the scarves, petting each one as if they were the finest of silks, which they might as well have been for the outrageous cost the vendor was asking.

Darcy was checking out a table filled with Avengers memorabilia and crowing over to him, "Bruce, they have a Hawkeye t-shirt! It's purple! Look!"

He laughed as he turned to see her holding up a t-shirt with Clint's serious face plastered over it. Bouncing, she turned back around and paid them for it, before folding it up and stuffing it in her bag. He imagined Clint's face later would be worth seeing.

They were on the way out, with the vendors beginning to close up, both Lewis women loaded down with various things, from jewelry to baked goods to a few trinkets and clothes, when Bruce broke away from them as they were chatting. He bought two of the expensive scarves, feeling it in his wallet, before returning to the two women who hadn't seemed to notice his absence.

"No, I'm telling you, if the principal didn't have a crush on you, I would've been expelled from high school _at least _twice," Darcy told her, shaking her head. "The cherry bombs were one thing, but when I set up the PA system to play a continuous loop of It's Raining Men, I'm surprised he didn't recommend military school…"

"You were precocious," Mary said, shrugging. "Maybe a little impulsive, but _inventive!_" she added, smiling. "Admirable qualities."

Darcy grinned widely at the compliment. "Hells yeah I was!"

Bruce's lips twitched with amusement. He considered telling her some time in the future that she was impulsive just to hear her tell him she'd been told it was an 'admirable' quality of hers.

Catching a cab back to the tower, they decided to order in dinner, setting up in Darcy's living room to watch a movie while they ate Chinese food.

As Bruce sat in the corner of her couch, his eyes wandered around Darcy's apartment to see the bright splashes of color, pictures of friends and family, and the quirky ornaments and knick-knacks that she kept.

There was a photo on her shelf of her standing with all of the Avengers, dressed in full superhero gear. A widely grinning Thor stood in the back, his chest puffed out and his hammer held proudly up. The ever-deadly Black Widow was looking at the camera with a lethal expression, but there was a faint curve to her mouth that said she was tolerant, possibly even affectionate, of Darcy and her desire to have photographic evidence of her friends. Hawkeye was kneeling closer to the ground, a smirk in place and his bow held by his side. Captain America knelt on the other side of Darcy, holding his shield up and smiling warmly. Iron Man had one of his hands out, bright as if about to take a shot. And then there was Bruce, the only one of the team not dressed in their Avengers persona, as it would've meant Hulking out. He stood just behind her, his hand on her waist, a smile tipping his mouth.

"You're as much a hero as the big green guy," she told him later. "As much of an _Avenger _as him."

Next to that photo was one of her when she was a teenager, her arms wrapped around a younger Aunt Mary. And on the other side was a picture of her with her arms around Jane, with Thor photo-bombing in the back. The last picture his gaze landed on was one of just the two of them, taken by Pepper at one of the group dinners they'd attended. Darcy's head was leaned back, falling against his shoulder as she laughed, while Bruce watched her, smiling widely.

"Hey," Darcy said, drawing his attention. "Want my sweet and sour pork?" She wrinkled her nose. "I'm not feeling it tonight."

He tipped his box to her and she used her fork to skewer each one and drop it off on top of his fried rice.

Settling back, he focused on the movie once more, listening to Darcy and Mary's commentary; apparently talking through movies also ran in the family.

Later, when he was saying goodbye at the door, Mary piped up, "Why don't you just go with him now instead of waiting for me to fall asleep? At least then I can sleep in your bed and not on the couch!"

Darcy rolled her eyes. "I offered you the bed when you got here and you kept telling me no!"

"That was before I knew you were sneaking off to sleep with him every night," she dismissed. "If I'm not putting anyone out, then I'm taking the bed!" Gathering her pillow up, she started for Darcy's room and gave them a wave. "I'll see you two in the morning. I'm thinking I'll make my blueberry pancakes!"

Darcy laughed, shaking her head, but shrugged and grabbed up her keys. "Who am I to argue?" she said, locking the door behind her before taking his hand.

By the time the week was up and they were seeing Mary off, Bruce was actually sorry to see her go. And so was Darcy if the tears in her eyes, that she tried hard to pretend she wasn't crying, were anything to go by.

"We'll visit again soon," Mary assured her, patting her niece's cheek. "You'll bring this one out for Christmas, won't you?"

Darcy looked up at him, her eyes wide. "I don't know… I don't know if he has plans for the holidays…"

"I would love to come, if you'll have me," Bruce agreed, nodding at Mary.

"Of course we will." Mary reached up and fluffed his hair. "It was good meeting you, Bruce," she told him, drawing him down so she could kiss his cheek.

He smiled. "It was nice meet you too… Aunt Mary."

She grinned widely, looking years younger and a whole lot like her niece in that moment.

"I actually have something for you," he said, offering up the box he'd been holding onto. "It's not much, but…"

Mary glanced at Darcy, who looked confused and shook her head.

Opening the box, the older woman smiled, dropping her fingers inside to pet the multi-colored scarf inside. She plucked the thin, gauzy fabric free and wrapped it around her neck, tying it loosely. "It's lovely!" she declared, looking up at him with a much softer, sincere smile. "Forget Alfred, you'll name your first child after me," she declared, and with that, she turned, kissed Darcy one last time on the cheek, and finally walked toward the cab waiting to bring her to the airport.

They waved as the cab disappeared and Darcy turned to look up at him, am eyebrow arched. "Not bad, Banner. I think you might've just made an ally for life out of my aunt."

"Good," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and guiding her back to the tower. "Maybe she won't be too upset when we don't name our future, hypothetical kids after her if she likes me enough."

She laughed, resting her head against his shoulder. "I wouldn't bet on it."

It wasn't until later, after things had settled back to normal, that Bruce noticed how little Darcy and Mary had talked about Darcy's mom. Even in the weeks following as they made plans for Christmas and he realized that Ellen wasn't invited or involved. When they flew down to meet Mary, who was excited for them to spend a week of their holidays with her, neither niece nor aunt took any time out to call or visit Ellen Lewis, and it didn't seem she was inclined to do so either.

As time went on, Bruce knew he wouldn't be meeting her unless by fluke. Darcy rarely went home and hardly ever spoke to her. Although, on occasion, Bruce had heard her drunken rants on the phone, watching as Darcy nodded and hummed while she thumbed through a magazine or scrolled through her Tumblr on her laptop. And when Ellen would finally let her daughter off the phone, a drained Darcy would hang up and rub her temples of the headache.

Partly remembering his own childhood and the stress of an alcoholic parent, and partly because he hated seeing that defeated look on Darcy face, Bruce made it a point to distract her, with a movie or a bubble bath or just kissing her until she relaxed against him.

It was on one of those occasions that she told him she loved him.

They were in the bathtub, nearly overflowing with bubbles, water lapping precariously close to the edges. He was leaned back with her in front of him, scrubbing a cloth down his legs before flicking the little yellow rubber ducky she _always _brought into the tub with them.

("Uh, _duh_, this is his only job! How lame would it be for us to just never let him do it?"

He couldn't exactly argue with that logic.)

Bruce was soaping up her back, massaging her shoulders, and listening to her rant about pruney fingers.

"Tony said he tried to make some kind of liquid that you could put in the bath and your skin would never wrinkle, but _pfft_ that just sounds sketchy to me!"

He smiled, amused. "I like your wrinkles." He leaned forward to kiss her shoulder.

She sighed. "You're really good at this."

"What? Bathing?" he teased, pressing his thumbs against the muscles leading up to her neck.

"No. Distracting me." She shook her head. "I hate when she calls but I hate even more that I don't know how _not _to pick up. It's like… I dunno. Like I know I'd feel guilty if I don't answer it, so I do, but then I feel guilty because I'm not listening or I don't care…" Her shoulders slumped. "And she just talks forever and it's about really stupid bullshit, y'know?"

He ran his hands down her arms and squeezed.

"And then you swoop in and you make me feel better and I just…" Her voice cracked. "I love you for that," she said softly. "I mean, not _just _for that. Because there's a whole bunch of things I love about you. Like your hair and your smile and the way you laugh… And that funny way your forehead wrinkles when you frown… And the way you smell and how excited you get when you make a breakthrough…" She ducked her head slightly, her lips curving in a smile. "The way you look at me and you touch me with this—this _tenderness _and you just…" She shook her head. "You make me feel good about being me; I don't feel awkward or stupid or crazy when I'm with you. I just—I feel loved and accepted." She ran her hands down his legs. "So yeah… I love you."

His hands had stilled at some point and his heart was beating a little faster. He wasn't sure how long he'd been waiting to hear that. It wasn't that he didn't know, because there were times when she just looked at him and he could feel it. But she hadn't voiced it and now that she had and in the way she had, it felt like this huge weight had been lifted off him. That fear that she might not feel the same or to the same depth as him was gone.

Bruce sat forward, wrapping his arms around her, soap and water dripping off him. He pressed his face against her hair and kissed the hinge of her jaw. "I love you too, Darcy."

Hands squeezing his forearms, she nodded. "I know."

It didn't seem like a big deal when he asked her to move in a little over six months after they started dating. He told himself it was natural progression. She already spent so much of her time at his apartment that many of her clothes had taken up space in his closet and her toothbrush sat next to his in the bathroom. Besides, he liked the idea of his home being hers; that coming home essentially meant returning to her.

The very same day she agreed to move in, he found construction workers in his bathroom, and Tony, holding blueprints and wearing protective goggles. Over the noise, Tony explained, "His and her sinks!" as he pointed at the destruction around him.

Bruce raised an eyebrow and pointed at the demolished shower.

"Ceiling mount waterfall shower; so you don't have to switch out under the spray!" He gave him a thumbs-up. "Pepper loves it!"

Shaking his head, Bruce sighed. "Sometimes I don't know if I should thank you or look into a restraining order," he shouted back.

Tony smirked. "I get that a lot!"

Melding their two worlds didn't always look like it fit; Darcy's tarot cards, a gift from her aunt, looked a little unusual on his bookshelf of science related texts. Her TV series of Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries, didn't exactly look like they fit next to his Firefly and Star Trek. His African masks hung on the walls next to the expressionism prints she liked; sometimes working, sometimes not.

Her clothes took up three-quarters of the closet and a second dresser was added to the bedroom, while her shoes consumed the floor of both the hallway and bedroom closets. Apparently she had a shoe addiction, not that he was complaining since they did amazing things to her legs. Even if she only broke them out for dates, preferring her sneakers during work hours.

They settled into domesticity quite nicely. She brought him even further out of his shell, enacting a weekly hang-out night with the other Avengers. Occasionally at their apartment and sometimes in the communal living room, with everybody watching a movie together, which usually ended in Thor asking a lot of questions, Steve piping up with excitement when he understood a reference, Tony complaining, Natasha randomly disappearing, and Darcy eating too much junk food. At least once a month, they went out on the town, hitting up a bar or a restaurant. His favorite though, was games night. It was amazing how a simple board game could become so involved.

Thor, a usually excitable and friendly man, was an impossibly sore loser, stating often that Midgardian games were 'foolish.' Unless he won and then he praised the Midgardians for their genius. To date, his favorite game was Hungry, Hungry Hippos.

Clint always wanted to involve shots in each game, and occasionally succeeded in getting everyone to agree, which usually turned games night into drinking night. Unsurprisingly, his favorite game was a Snakes and Ladders drinking game Darcy bought for him, where shot glasses, each marked with a purple target, were placed on certain squares.

Tony was constantly taking bets on who would win, encouraging Darcy to hand him a 'Gambler's Anonymous' brochure the moment he arrived, to which he would smirk, tuck it away in his pocket, and tell her, "Do you really think my presence would help or hinder that poor, funless group of people?" His favorite game was poker, and he was a shark at it; though Bruce was fairly sure JARVIS was feeding him intel on everyone else's cards, not that he'd been able to prove it… yet.

Natasha somehow managed to win just about ever single game they ever played.

Jane was constantly bugged for over-thinking every move, trying to analyze the outcome of her action before she made it. She always brought Classic Monopoly with her, which resulted in hours of playing and a stubborn Dr. Foster that wouldn't let anybody leave the game until there was a clear winner.

Steve tried to convince everyone to play Pictionary ever week but was very rarely heard. He was also getting better at the pop culture related games, like Trivial Pursuit, but Bruce thought that had a lot to do with the fact that Darcy kept giving Steve 'homework' to watch certain TV shows or movies and then met up with him every two weeks to quiz him on it.

And Darcy, their games night engineer, happy to play anything, cheerfully said, "You sunk my battleship!" whenever she lost, whether they were playing Battleship or not.

Bruce, unfortunately, though not surprisingly, never won. In fact, he lost at everything. Except Chess, though very few ever played him. Still, it was interesting to see different facets of everyone's personality come through as they played innocent games.

Between games night and just generally hanging out with the group outside of world-saving activities, Bruce really started to relax, to accept these people as some sort of weird sense of family. Which translated well on the field too, as even The Other Guy started to recognize that they were teammates. Something Thor very much appreciated, since he was usually the one being knocked around by Hulk.

It seemed that having Darcy in his life was smoothing out all the hard edges, even the most jagged one of all. On more than one occasion, she'd met with the Hulk, calming him down after battle, finding him when he randomly broke forward and went on a rampage through Stark tower. And, on one occasion, when he transformed for no other apparent reason but to see her…

Darcy met the Hulk just outside Stark tower, smiling as he put an entire flower cart in front of her.

"**PRETTY DARCY!**" he exclaimed.

"Aw, for me?" She plucked out a few flowers and sniffed them. "You're too good to me, Big Guy."

He shifted on his feet. "**DARCY SMASH WITH HULK?**" he asked her.

"Are you asking me on a date?" she wondered, brow ticking.

Not replying, he simply held a hand out for her. Shrugging, she climbed into it, taking a seat in his palm.

With a smile that was a little too scary to be exactly friendly, he nodded at her.

Hulk started down the street, every jarring step making her bounce in his grip. Frowning, he hugged her to his chest, to which Darcy was careful to turn her head so she wouldn't suffocate. And only when they reached Central Park, just short of a pond filled with ducks, did he release her. He took a seat, leaning back against a tree that he used to scratch his back, and then let her down to stand next to him.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him, shaking out her arms and legs before pointing at a hot dog vendor.

"**HULK FEED PRETTY!**" he said, moving to get up.

"No, it's okay. I'll get it," she said, waving him back. "Here, watch my flowers," she told him, laying the few she'd picked down on the grass between them. "Besides…" She eyed the people around them, pointing and keeping their distance, though many of them pulled out phones and cameras. "Looks like you're freaking out the locals a bit. It'll be good if you just relax and they can see you're not here to destroy anything." She smiled. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

He gave her a sharp nod, like he was trying to assure her that he understood and was listening very carefully.

After buying five hot dogs with the change from her jeans pocket, Darcy returned, taking a seat on the ground in front of him and motioning for him to give her his hand. She dropped two hot dogs in it and told him to, "Eat up!"

Hulk watched her as she bit off the end and chewed hers, but he ended up just tossing both straight into his mouth and swallowing.

Rolling her eyes, she handed him two more. "Your technique needs work, but hey, to each their own, right?" She shrugged.

"**HULK LIKE!**" he cheered. "**HULK WANT MORE!**"

"Okay, settle down! I'll see if I can scrounge up some more change. Jeez!" She laughed, standing up and brushing her butt off of grass.

Darcy found a ten dollar bill in her back pocket, thankfully, but as she turned around to bring the Hulk his food, she found him leaning precariously over the pond, examining the ducks that were quacking at him. With a growl, he slapped the water, sending little waves up that scattered some of the ducks while others just moved with the water. Gritting his teeth, the Hulk reached further.

She quickened her steps, calling out, "Careful! You don't want to—"

As a loud splash cut her off, she sighed.

"Fall in," she finished, rolling her eyes.

Hulk came out of the water sputtering and waving his angry green arms, finally scaring the ducks away like he wanted to.

Darcy shook her head as she stopped at the edge of the water. "You all right?"

He turned to her, dripping wet, his dark hair hanging in damp chunks over his eyes. He blew out an irritated breath and frowned.

She smiled. "Come on…" She waved the hot dogs at him. "Look what I got!"

He huffed a breath, but still climbed from the water and, upon standing on dry land, gave himself a shake like a wet dog.

Darcy's amusement faded rapidly when faced with the fact that she was now soaking wet.

Seeing her, Hulk gave a grizzly smile. "**DARCY WET TOO!**" He cocked his head. "**DARCY SMASH BIRDS?**"

"No…" She tugged her shirt away from her body and started back toward the tree they'd been sitting under earlier. "And she probably should've seen that coming…" She clucked her tongue. "Coulson's totally gonna put in the report that my observation skills are rusty." Plopping down on the grass, she waited for him to do the same, though the ground seemed to quake when he did it, and handed him his slightly soggy hot dogs.

Not caring about the texture, Hulk threw them back in his mouth and swallowed.

Resting her elbows on her knees, she raised a brow at him and picked up one of the flowers, pulling the purple petals off of it. "So? What brings you to my neck of the woods?" she asked, smiling.

"**HULK WANT SEE DARCY! BANNER GET DARCY ALWAYS!**"

"Well, I'm flattered," she said, dropping the flower petals into a pile in her lap before she grabbed up another. "What do you want to do now that you're here?" She shrugged. "We've got the park to explore, but we should probably be careful. There's a lot of people and while you're not hard to miss, I'm guessing it's a little easier for you to step on things you shouldn't."

He grunted in acknowledgement.

"_Or_… We could just hang out, talk…" She tipped her head. "You could tell me all your favorite things to smash," she suggested.

He bared his teeth in a smile and Darcy answered it with her own, much nicer grin.

While Hulk gave her his list, sometimes adding why they were his favorite, Darcy nodded, listening intently while she built up her petal pile. And when he was done and her flowers had all been plucked, she pushed herself up to stand.

"Not bad," she told him. "Personally, I'm more of an angry music to work out my feelings kind of girl." She waved a hand. "I've got a playlist for everything. But hey, your way works too." She smiled. "Wanna see something cool?"

He nodded his head.

Darcy cupped her hands around the petals and suddenly tossed them up into the air, without much of a breeze they mostly just floated back down slowly, a mixture of orange, pink, purple and yellow. As they fell, Hulk turned his head up and watched them, his large, green face wide in surprise. He batted a hand as if to swat at a few but eventually just watched them as they fell in Darcy's hair and clung to his skin, while others just rested in the grass.

"Flower shower," she said, grinning.

Hulk looked down at himself, colorful petals clinging to his wet skin.

With a laugh, Darcy reached over to start brushing them off. He stopped her though and instead puffed his chest out proudly. "**HULK PRETTY LIKE DARCY!**"

Her smile widened impossibly larger. "Hulk might even be _prettier _than Darcy," she told him, nodding.

He tipped his head skeptically but grunted nonetheless.

Taking a seat again, Darcy pulled an elastic from her wrist and tied her hair up. "Okay, your _least _favorite things to smash," she told him, wiggling her fingers in askance.

He started his list with her and then went through all of the Avengers, beginning with Tony, and Darcy was pretty happy about that. Though she did feel bad that Thor was the last Avenger he listed and couldn't get him to explain why outside of a shrug and a scoffed, "_God_."

They spent an hour in the park before she got a call from Coulson telling her to wrap it up; people were getting too anxious to put off any longer. Convincing Hulk they would see each other again soon, she got him to meditate with her until he shrank back to Bruce, passed out under the tree, with flower petals stuck all over. Steve came to collect him, seemingly from nowhere, while Darcy smiled contently as she walked next to them.

Later, when Bruce woke up and was told exactly what had happened, he started to accept that as much as the Hulk felt like a chaotic force inside him, he had to understand that The Other Guy had some control. He even had feelings outside of anger and a desire for destruction. For some reason, he liked Darcy and he wanted to protect her and spend time with her just like Bruce had. So he let himself trust in that side of him just a little bit.

Of course, things weren't always easy. They didn't always get wrapped up in a little green ribbon of perfection.

They'd been dating almost two years when Darcy was kidnapped.

"What do you _mean_ Darcy's missing?" he demanded, glaring at Coulson, who was looking just as emotionless as ever, carefully wearing his Agent mask.

"It appears that while picking up a lunch order for the office…" His jaw ticked. "Miss. Lewis was attacked outside of the diner and forcibly brought into an unmarked white van." Both his voice and body were tensed, partly out of what Bruce knew to be anger that somebody who worked for him had been taken, and partly out of necessity, ready in the event that Bruce changed.

"Where are the others?" he asked, scrubbing a hand down his face, his body shaking.

"They're gathering now. Stark thinks he might have a way to track the van and where it might be headed." And then, in a moment where Coulson was less agent and more man, he reached out and placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "We'll get her back."

He had to believe him; there was no other option.

Bruce blamed it on their public outings, on her being seen with so many of the Avengers, on her dating him, and he took it hard. He was a mess; a time bomb waiting to happen. They couldn't get a read on her for awhile; it was like she and the van she was forced into had disappeared into thin air. Tony's idea fell through, which only made him irritable; he didn't like feeling useless.

Everybody was on edge; they wanted to be doing something, but finding her seemed an impossible task.

Clint, Natasha and Coulson were each calling in favors. Tony was contacting everybody on Pepper's rolodex, ready to strangle the president himself if he had any intel. Steve was trying to keep everyone calm and keep spirits high, constantly reminding everybody that Darcy was strong and resilient. For the first while, Thor would pipe up agreeably, reminding them that Darcy had felled him with bottled lightening and she would surely smite any who took her on.

But then a week had passed and even their morale was fading.

Bruce was losing his mind. He couldn't sleep; just being in their apartment made him stir-crazy. He was on the verge of Hulking out constantly, his skin rippling green at random. Nothing anybody said comforted him. He couldn't stand not knowing; if she was hurt or alive or dead. In the few times he'd passed out, he dreamt of her, being taken by General Ross, terrorized and tortured for information. He would startle awake even more worried, feeling sick to his stomach.

Finally, ending their turmoil, Natasha got a lead. HYDRA had taken her and Natasha said she knew where they were.

Suddenly, though it felt like it had taken them forever to get there, they were on their way to rescue Darcy, with a pacing Bruce Banner, his skin getting progressively greener, waiting eager and caged in the back.

He turned things over to the Hulk in the same moment they landed and after that it was just a flash of attacking, destroying everything in his path, growling and snapping, hollering for her.

When they found Darcy, she was dehydrated, starving, a little beaten up, and as sarcastic as ever.

It was Captain America that broke into her cell; tears slipped from her eyes as she looked up and said, "We need to work on your reaction time, Cap."

"Apologies, ma'am. I'll be sure to buy a watch for future rescues," he replied with a reassuring smile.

Darcy let out a laugh before stumbling to her feet and promptly losing her balance.

Catching her, Steve carried her out, running from the building and managing to take out two HYDRA soldiers with just his legs, all while holding Darcy carefully in his arms.

As he exited the building, he only made it twenty feet before Hulk spotted her. Bruce's alter-ego knocked out every single person in his path until he had her cradled in his large, green arms. And for the first time in a long time, when he transformed back to Bruce, he didn't pass out from the stress of it all. Instead, he knelt in the dirt, holding her battered body against his chest, stroking her hair with a shaking hand.

"Darcy," he breathed out, pressing his forehead against hers, his body fairly slumping in relief.

"They broke my iPod," she told him, her chapped lips pursed in a pout. "So I sang 'It's Not Easy Being Green' at the top of my lungs for three days straight." Her nose wrinkled. "I don't think it helped with the dehydration much, but…" She shrugged. "Totally worth it."

Bruce choked on a laugh before burying his face against her neck. "You're okay?" he wondered, ignoring the explosions and fighting and flying bullets all around them.

With a gentle sigh, she wrapped her arms around him and said, "I'm better now."

"I don't want to break up the reunion, but HYDRA has friends and it looks like they're all headed this way," Tony said, landing on the ground not far from them, blasting someone in the distance.

Bruce pushed himself up from the ground and picked her up with him.

Worried, she said, "You don't look so good, Doc."

"I'll be fine. I just want to get you home…" He squeezed her and started away from the HYDRA site. The Avengers pulled in, blocking them from enemy fire, and together they all piled back onto the Quinjet.

Darcy explained in her debriefing that they wanted intel on the Avengers, especially Steve, but she hadn't said a word, explaining the bruises and lack of food or water as they tried to push her to her limits.

While Darcy had to spend a few days in the med bay under observation, Bruce stayed with her, even sharing her bed when she coaxed him in.

Picking up the cord in her arm, he said without humor, "Now who's being treated for dehydration?"

She smiled and tucked her head against his chest. "We're a pair…" she murmured.

Bruce stroked her hair back from her face, watching as she fell asleep before he let the pain show. Silently, he hoped they were never like this again. It was one thing when he was here because of the Hulk; it was another entirely to see her be the small, tired, beat-up one in the hospital bed. Darcy had always been so full of life; to see her any other way was painful. She bounced back quickly, but the image never left Bruce's mind.

After that, Darcy had a detail put on her, one she vehemently argued she didn't need and ended up getting quite adept at avoiding. It wasn't until she agreed to train with Natasha that Coulson agreed to pull the guard off her. And aside from asking for more massages and taking longer baths because her muscles hurt and just generally complaining that Natasha was trying to kill her in the slowest, most painful way possible, Darcy actually got pretty good at self-defense. She wasn't trading in her tazer anytime soon, but it helped to put everyone at ease, including herself.

For months after the kidnapping, she'd been waking up with nightmares. Being able to take control back, to know that she could really fight and possibly save herself from it ever repeating, helped her. Along with the shrink she was forced to see until she was back to just her usual semi-crazy mental state.

Things got back to normal; or as normal as they can be considering their lives.

Bruce continued to help save the world, both in and out of his lab, and Darcy stood tall as Coulson's amazingly adept right-hand woman, managing to help him in all things Avengers. And at night, they would return home to their apartment, share dinner and their days and, when they weren't actively pursuing every way to exhaust each other with sex and test his control, they watched a movie or caught each other up on the shows they each liked. Bruce wouldn't admit it to just anybody, but he was a little invested in The Vampire Diaries. Maybe it was the idea that the main characters had a demon in them, a force they couldn't always control, but occasionally he felt like he could relate.

Darcy's reasons were a little less deep. "They're so pretty..."

Laughing, he gathered her into his side and just enjoyed the show. He knew she also loved the fluctuating relationship between the Salvatore brothers and thought Bonnie and Caroline were 'badass.'

If anything though, Darcy's near-death experience reminded them all how fleeting life could be.

Jane made more of an effort to get out of her lab and join in. In fact, she, Pepper, Darcy, and Natasha, when she was so inclined, had a standing girl's night in place. Which encouraged the men to have a Poker Night, no women allowed. Of course, that rule never applied to Natasha, who showed up when she felt like it.

While Bruce wasn't exactly a fan of poker, Darcy was always quick to encourage him to spend more time with the guys. Clint brought the cigars, Tony the alcohol, and Coulson provided a room, sans recording devices (because Tony was _definitely _using JARVIS to cheat).

A few hours losing his hard-earned money was actually more fun than he expected.

"You guys are making this too easy," Tony told them, smirking as he drew the pile of chips toward him with one hand, the other holding his cigar an inch from his lips. "I'm starting to get a complex." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you _letting _me win?"

Clint snorted. "Because you really need the money, Stark."

"To not play to my greatest strength would be offensive to your integrity, brother-Stark," Thor declared.

"Thanks Point Break," he said, mouth twitching. He looked around the table. "I know Bruce isn't letting me win on purpose… He's saving up for an engagement ring. He can't _afford _to."

Bruce choked on his water, wiping his mouth and glaring at the smirking billionaire across from him. "_What?_" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Truly, brother-Banner?" Thor asked, smiling widely as he reached across to clap him on the shoulder. "This is a most momentous occasion! You have picked well in courting Lady Darcy! You will produce strong, loyal, cunning offspring together!"

"Don't forget smart and attractive, if they take after their mother," Tony added.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Tony…" he said warningly.

"Hey, you can't argue it. JARVIS said you were looking up rings online."

Clint's brow hiked. "I guess congratulations are in order, Doc."

"I'm not— I haven't—" He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was just looking…" he finally admitted.

"Looking means anticipating," Coulson told him, head tipped slightly. "You don't go looking for a ring unless you anticipate putting it on her finger one day."

"Right, and he would know this because he hasn't ever been married and rarely dates," Tony said snarkily, before frowning at Coulson. "Who invited you to poker night, again?"

Coulson's lips curled in a faint smile. "I don't need to have a marriage behind me to understand human behavior," he said simply, returning his attention to Bruce. "I'm not surprised… You and Darcy are very happy together."

"I think it's a great idea," Steve said, nodding.

"Yeah, probably because you want them to stop living in sin together and getting married clears up the discomfort you have," Tony told him.

Steve frowned. "It wasn't common in my time, no, but I know times have changed. And Darcy and Bruce make a great couple." He turned to look at Bruce sincerely. "She's a wonderful dame, and I think you'll have a long, successful marriage."

"Who says she'll yes?" Natasha wondered aloud. "You are all assuming that Darcy is ready for marriage. What if she doesn't want to be married? What then?"

Bruce turned to look at her, worried. "Has she said something?"

Her brow arched. "No… But I do not think it would be wise to ask if you aren't certain of the answer." She flipped a chip over her knuckles. "And make sure that when you ask it is not out of fear of losing her…" She stared at him searchingly. "A woman will know if you are asking because you feel guilty."

Bruce's eyes fell. "When she was kidnapped, it triggered something, I can admit that… But that's not the only reason I want to marry her." He paused, flushed a little, and added, "When the time is right. Like I said, I was only _looking _at rings."

Natasha gave a sharp nod. "When you are ready, ask when there is no fear, just those other reasons."

"Don't listen to her, what does she know?" Tony batted a dismissive hand. "I call best man," he declared.

Bruce rolled his eyes, but he smiled slightly. "I already promised it to someone else," he lied.

"What?" Tony sat forward, offended. "_Who?_" He peered around at the group. "Which one of you was it?" He threw his cards down. "We're meeting on the roof. I'll bring the suit, you bring whatever weapon you have, whoever wins gets it. No holds barred."

Coulson's lips pursed. "Stark, there's at least two people here who are impenetrable… And the other two are master assassins."

Tony blinked at him before looking over to Bruce in a wounded fashion and saying, "Tell me it wasn't Coulson. If it's Coulson, I'm returning your friendship bracelet and never speaking to you again."

"We don't _have _friendship bracelets," Bruce reminded, on the verge of laughing.

"Then I will have one made and return it to you!" he said, rolling his eyes.

"It's not Coulson," Bruce assured, shaking his head on a sigh.

"It's Thor, isn't it?" Tony eyed the alien God speculatively. "How ridiculous are you going to look standing next to him in the wedding pictures?" He threw his hands up.

"I would be most honored to stand next to you at your grand wedding to Lady Darcy!" Thor told him happily.

"Thanks Thor, I'll keep that in mind," Bruce told him, nodding.

"_Steve? _You're letting Steve be your best man?" he demanded. "How is he supposed to throw a bachelor party? We'll be playing Gin and having our caricatures drawn; there will be no naked strippers anywhere! That is not the kind of bachelor party an Avenger has!"

Steve rolled his eyes.

"There's not going to _be_ a bachelor party… And there's definitely not going to be strippers," Bruce argued.

"It's Natasha, isn't it? You asked Natasha instead of me…" He glared at the woman next to him. "This is taking our frenemyship to a _whole_ new level!"

"I'm a little offended that I'm the last one you considered," Clint muttered. "You even picked a girl over me." Seeing Natasha's sharp expression at him, he rectified with, "Not that she wouldn't be a great best man."

"You should just put him out of his misery," Steve said, looking to Bruce.

"What?" Tony looked at him. "It _was _Steve? Are you serious? You picked Star-Spangled over me?"

Bruce smirked. "You'll be my best man, Tony. Stop bothering everyone."

"Good…" He picked his cards back up, looking smug. A moment later though, he said, "Am I getting this by default?" He peered around the table, his eyes narrowed. "Who was it really?"

Bruce laughed, shook his head, and looked down at his hand. Royal flush. It looked like he'd finally be winning.

Later that night, when he found Darcy curled up in their bed, still dressed up, with glitter stuck all over her skin, a five dollar bill sticking out of her cleavage, and wearing a plastic tiara, he shook his head.

Laying down next to her, he brushed her hair back from her face, smiled when she opened bleary eyes to see him, and asked, "Why do I get the feeling you had a more interesting night than me?"

Tiredly, she crawled on top of him and said, "I'll show _you _interesting…" right before she passed out.

He grinned.

This was the woman he was going to marry.

[**Next**: Part V.]


	5. Part V

**Title**: Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)  
**Song**: Lift Me Up - Mree  
**Category**: Thor/Avengers  
**Genre**: Romance/Drama/Humor/Tragedy  
**Ship**: Bruce/Darcy  
**Rating**: NC-17  
**Prompt**: Day #4 – Crimson | Darcy Lewis Week (I'm late to the party and I don't care)  
**Warning(s)**: Sexual Content, Coarse Language, Character Death  
**Author's Note**: This was meant to be a oneshot, but it got so long that I had to separate it into parts.  
**Word Count**: 10,499  
**Summary**: From the beginning to the end; how Bruce finally lets himself find happiness only to have it destroyed.

**_Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)_**  
-Novel-

**V.**

Bruce took Natasha's advice to heart. He waited until that all-consuming fear of losing her had passed and made sure that the desire to marry Darcy had nothing to do with her kidnapping and everything to do with wanting to spend his life with her.

Which meant waiting until he wasn't freaking out every time she left the Avengers building or she didn't pick up her phone right away. When she didn't show up at exactly 7 to convince him to leave work behind or meet him for lunch rather than have Scooter pick up his order.

It meant waiting for his own reoccurring nightmares of her death to stop waking him up in the dead of night, drenched in sweat, and reaching blindly for her body next to his.

Usually, it was a repetitious rescue mission, only his mind had filled in the blanks for when the Hulk had taken over. He wasn't green, wasn't larger than life, but instead just his regular sized self, stumbling through a war zone, screaming her name, dodging HYDRA soldiers as he got closer and closer to the building. And then Captain America would step out, holding Darcy's body in his arms. Only she was limp, lifeless, sometimes bleeding, a trail of blood dripping behind her as her body was laid in his arms. Her eyes staring up at him; a dark, empty blue.

Other times, he imagined General Ross swooping in and snatching her up, telling him it was his fault; that if it wasn't for Bruce and the monster that lived inside him, Darcy would still be alive. Like a ragdoll, she'd be tossed at his feet, beaten and bruised, before Ross would put a bullet in the back of her skull, telling her she was a disgrace to her country for loving such a murderous creature.

He was haunted by Darcy's dead eyes, her cold, pale skin, the way everything good and alive about her had drained away. But when he woke up and he turned over, gathering her up into his arms, she was turn over and smile sleepily. Looking pink and sleep mussed and healthy.

"Hey Fluffy," she would murmur, skittering her hand over his hair or his cheek or patting his chest. She'd snuggle against him and hum, "Shhh… Just a bad dream… We're okay… 'M okay…" Like she knew, she understood, and she'd soothe him back to sleep, this time free of the nightmare and the fear.

It put him at ease to find her and Natasha were working hard at self-defense. He liked seeing that spark in her eyes. Even when she was complaining that everything hurt, she'd smirk and add, "But she says I'm _this _close to learning how to kill someone with my pinkie!"

For all her talk, Darcy wasn't the killer type, really. Maybe in theory, when asked what she would do if it came down to her and some bad guy, she'd say she would do anything in her power to live. But in a general sense, she was never going to be Natasha 2.0. Truth be told, Bruce was glad for it. He appreciated Natasha as a teammate and understood that her skills, however deadly they were, were a great asset in saving the world. He trusted her enough not to worry when Darcy was training with her; she might possibly be the deadliest of them all, but she was loyal too and she considered both him and Darcy friends.

Still, he'd rather Darcy be her sarcastic, tazer-wielding, defensive fighter, rather than a blood thirsty, kill at the drop of a hat, offensive fighter. And she seemed to like it that way too.

"I'm not planning to suit up and become an Avenger, even if my ass would look ah-_maze_-balls in leather, but I want to know if any baddie comes knocking on my door, I won't just have to dig through a purse for my tazer. I can react quicker and decisively and hopefully kick some ass before throwing up the 'save me' flag."

"You _would _look great in leather," he admitted, lips twitching.

"_Right?!_" she said, her eyes wide for emphasis.

He chuckled under his breath. "Maybe you can put in a request with Coulson anyway, see what he says…"

Her eyes glimmered with excitement and mischief. "Oh my god, he'll shit a brick." She popped up onto the tips of her toes and gave him a quick kiss, before leaning in for another, longer one. "You've got your slightly evil thinking cap on today, Doc. I'm likin' in."

"Only slightly evil?" he asked, hooking an arm around her waist.

She fingered the collar of his lab coat. "I'm thinking your ideas ran more toward sexy times than making Coulson pop a vein over me wanting to requisition my own superhero outfit." She smirked, tipping her head back and biting his chin playfully. "Not that I'm complaining."

Skating his fingers up her back, Bruce tucked them under her hair, squeezing the nape of her neck lightly. "Two birds, one stone. You get to pick on Coulson; I get to see you in leather."

Grinning, she shook her head. "You're giving me ideas here, Bruce. I might just have to pick up a leather suit whether Coulson agrees to pay for it or not." She wiggled her eyebrows. "What are you thinking? Zipper in the front or the back?"

"I'm thinking I want to take a long lunch and we can map out the details upstairs," he said, leaning down to meet her smirking lips.

"Mmm… Read my mind." Turning around, she wrapped his arm around her waist and started walking.

Bruce hardly noticed the gaping stares of his peers following them out of the lab.

They decided on a back zipper, or he did when he was kissing his way down her arched spine, his hands sliding up her front to cup and knead her breasts.

A large factor in what helped him trust in her safety had to do with witness her training at work. She invited him along to see her progress, so he took a seat in the sparring room next to a lazily smirking Clint to watch as Natasha and Darcy went at it.

"She's doing better," Barton told him, taking a bite out of a shiny red apple and rubbing the juice away with the back of his hand. "She's not comfortable with weapons, but she's quick and she anticipates an attack well…" He nodded, looking proud.

Bruce watched as she and Natasha, who looked just as deadly and calm as ever, circled each other.

Natasha struck first, which Barton was quick to tell him was good. "Always let them come to you… Patience is important, right? Get the upper hand. If they attack, it means they _want _a fight. People who want to fight are usually hyped up on adrenaline; they want to keep the rush going."

"What about when you're not expecting an attack? Not everybody will come from the front like that," Bruce replied, brows furrowed.

"The minute an opponent touches you, it's on. You have to react quickly, recognize important details in seconds… How tall, male or female, all brawn or trained tactician."

Clint's eyes narrowed as he watched Darcy hit the mat hard on her back but swipe her leg out just as quick, taking Natasha down next to her.

Bruce winced as Darcy fell, but smiled as she got right back up and readied herself for another attack.

"Never stay down," Clint said. "You'll want to. It's going to hurt; you might not even feel like you can breathe. But if you stay down, they'll get up, and then it's over."

A cold flash ran over him at Clint's words.

"It's different here. They keep fighting until there's a clear winner. But if she were out in the field and she had a chance to get away while Nat was down, she'd take it." He shook his head. "It's one thing if you're an agent and you've got a target in sight, it's another if you're a civilian and you're pulled off the street into something."

"What if there's more than one opponent?" Bruce worried.

"Good question." Tossing the apple in the air, Clint smirked as Bruce caught it more out of instinct than anything, and then suddenly he was in the middle of the fight, reaching for Darcy from behind.

She saw him coming out of the corner of her eye though and leveled her elbow into his gut before slamming her heel down onto his foot and returning her attention to Natasha.

She didn't win in the end, which really wasn't surprising; Natasha got her in a headlock until she tapped out. But she put up a good fight and Bruce, honestly, felt a lot better about her chances. She'd managed to fight two of the deadliest assassins alive, who didn't appear to be pulling many punches.

She was sweating and flushed and shaking a little when Bruce sat down next to her on the mat, but she smiled at him.

"Badass, right?"

He laughed lightly, nodding. "The baddest."

Humming, she turned over onto her side and grabbed his hand, pulling it close so she could kiss the back. "I know you're worried about me… Some days, _I'm _worried about me…" Her brow furrowed. "But our lives aren't going to change; you're still going to save the world and I'm going to know way too much about the Avengers and SHIELD in general, so yeah, people might want to screw that up or target me, but…" She shook her head. "It's worth it. It's worth getting my ass kicked by Natasha. I'm not guaranteeing I can take on the whole of HYDRA if they ever pull up outside a sandwich shop, but I am saying I'll put up a fight, a big one, and I hope that's enough…" She squeezed his hand. "'Cause it's enough for me."

Bruce stroked her sweaty hair back from her temple. "I'm always going to worry about you…" He offered a shaky smile. "You don't have a rage monster inside you that keep you alive, whether you wanna be or not…" He swallowed tightly. "But I trust you, Darcy. And I love you. So if you feel safer… If you feel like this is the best we can do to keep you alive…" He stared at her searchingly. "Then it's enough."

She turned over onto her back again and brought his hand up to her face, nipping his palm before she settled it over her cheek. "Good." In a move he hadn't seen coming, she suddenly had him flat on his back against the mats and was straddling him. With a laugh at his surprised face, she pinned his hands up over his head and dropped her body down on top of his, the swell of her breasts pressing against his chest. "Now how you do feel about near-victory sex?"

He laughed low in his throat. "I could definitely be persuaded."

That night, he slept the whole night through; no nightmares.

And then a week passed, and two, and he started to believe that they were safe, or as much as they could be.

He wasn't holding his breath when she was out of sight or running a little late. And she tried her best to text him if she thought she'd be gone longer than expected or if Coulson was keeping her. Their lives were as normal as they could be given their jobs; he still had to go out and turn into a giant rage monster when necessary to save the world and she still fell asleep in a chair next to this hospital bed when it was a beat-up and exhausted Bruce Banner that was returned to her, but they had both come to accept that.

And Bruce found himself looking at engagement rings again, and not just because Tony and Pepper's wedding was around the corner. He found himself designing a proposal in his head instead of focusing on work, muttering under his breath, correcting what he'd say, shaking his head when it didn't come out right.

Scooter, apparently catching on, left proposal templates out for him to look over. She left websites on sticky notes that had engagement ring costs and ideas and places there in the city that were well respected but not too costly. But instead of getting too far ahead of himself, he remembered to take in every angle. Natasha had been right; everyone expected that Darcy was ready, just because Bruce was. He wasn't sure how to bring up the subject without giving too much away, but the opportunity presented itself rather obviously at the wedding.

Bruce was calm, collected; Tony was not.

"We should have eloped," he said, pacing across the room, barefoot, tie untied, hair in disarray from running his fingers through it repeatedly.

Frankly, Bruce was just glad he'd coaxed Tony out of his shop, where he'd been covered in grease and otherwise absent to the world as he worked on his latest prototype for an upgraded suit. JARVIS had been repeatedly reminding Tony that his wedding was in a few hours, but he'd merely waved a hand and continued his work.

With his suit safely packed away in the drycleaning bag and hung over his shoulder, Bruce walked into the lab to find the groom was in no shape to be married. Least of all to the always immaculate and put-together Pepper Potts.

"What are you _doing?_" he wondered, brows furrowed.

"It finally came to me this morning! That missing piece!" Tony told him, shaking a wrench back and forth. "This one's going to be the cherry on top; it'll put all the others to shame, in true Stark style."

"Tony, you're getting married in two hours… And you smell like you haven't slept or showered in a few days." His nose wrinkled. "Come on. We've got to get you into a shower, filled with coffee, and looking halfway presentable."

Tony scoffed. "Halfway." He rolled his eyes. "Look at who you're talking to, Bruce." He pointed at himself arrogantly.

"Yeah, you could sell that better if you weren't the definition of grease monkey right now…" He motioned to the door. "Let's go, before I have JARVIS lock down your shop."

"He wouldn't."

"In actuality, sir, I _would_," the AI intervened. "Miss. Potts made it quite clear that if Bruce wasn't able to convince you to get ready, I was under strict orders to ban you from the shop for the rest of the week. Personally, I argued a month might more suffice."

"Traitors," Tony muttered.

But, eventually, though it took a little more arguing and some wrestling over his toolbox, Tony did come upstairs to shower, knock back a whole pot of coffee, and dress in his finest. And he was doing fine until just twenty minutes before the ceremony.

"I've changed my mind," Tony declared.

Bruce looked over at him. "You're just having cold feet. You love Pepper, you want to marry her."

"You're right. Of course. Of course I do." He nodded, chewing his lip. "_Or_…"

He rolled his eyes. "Tony, there's nobody in this world that makes you happier, or who understands you, or who you can _put up _with you."

"Well I could say the same for you," he sniffed, moving toward a mirror to readjust his clothes.

"I'm flattered you feel that way," he replied wryly."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous." He arched an eyebrow. "You're too sarcastic for my tastes."

"I'm heartbroken," he said drolly.

"What I meant was this could've been a double wedding!" he exclaimed, glaring at him through the mirror as he fixed his hair. "What's taking you so long anyway?"

Bruce shifted. "I want to be sure."

"Sure about what?" His nose wrinkled. "Darcy's perfect you. Why she puts up with you, I have no idea, but she does." He stood up straight, smoothing out the hot rod red vest of his suit. "Maybe she has a fetish for Jekyll and Hyde complexes, I don't know." He shrugged, before fiddling with his cufflinks and asking, "So what's the hold up, old man?"

"We've never talked about it…" He shook his head. "It's just never come up."

"Well, this is the perfect time then, isn't it?" He waved a hand around him. "People are getting married, won't look suspicious to ask her where she stands on that."

"And how do I broach the subject?" he wondered, snorting. "Hey, Darcy, can you see us walking the aisle anytime soon?"

"Sure, if that works." He shrugged. "Look, she's going to be all high on _feelings_…" he said with distaste. "Better yet, watch and see if she makes a grab for the bouquet, then you know she's really interested."

"Or just competitive," he argued.

"Cynical," Tony muttered.

JARVIS suddenly interrupted with what sounded as close to the clearing of a throat as an AI could get. "Sir, you're expected outside, it's nearly time."

"I'm on my way," Tony assured, before picking up his jacket and pulling it on. "It's not too late to propose to Darcy and make this a two-in-on special…"

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Ten minutes ago you weren't sure you _wanted _to get married."

"That was ten minutes ago," he said, turning his eyes up dismissively. "It happened, I overcame it, I'm going to be a happily married man." He nodded shortly. "So? I'm sure Pep won't mind; she thinks you two are cute." He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"I appreciate the offer, but no, thanks." With a raised eyebrow, he admitted, "I'm not sure what I'm more worried about, you offering to share the spotlight or Pepper because she's actually going through with this wedding."

Tony offered a smirk. "That's progress, right?"

"It's something," he returned, grinning.

The wedding went off without a hitch. Though Tony vehemently denied that he had been wiping a tear away when Pepper walked down the aisle to him. "There was dust, in the air, it was all over the place. Dust and pollen and possibly a small branch of some sort. Tony Stark does not _cry_…"

The wedding party consisted of Bruce, Rhodey and Happy on Tony's side, while Pepper's had Darcy, Natasha, and Jane. Filling up the chairs of on-watchers were various press, Stark employees, and a number of friends, though Bruce was fairly sure the majority of them were Pepper's and not Tony's. Thor was dressed up in his warrior's garb, stating that it was what they wore on Asgard during ceremonies to show support. Coulson used a disposable Polaroid camera to snap pictures, but Bruce was fairly sure that was partly because the use of such an outdated camera pissed Tony off to no end, something Coulson was always happy to do.

Later, as they regrouped at the reception, Bruce smiled as he watched Darcy be swung around on the dance floor, trading partners repeatedly, moving from the graceful Steve to the jarring Thor to Clint, who convinced her to line-dance with him. When she was dropped into Tony's arms, the newly married man was smiling lightly, offering her a curtsey and a hand, which she laughed at before taking.

They were moving side to side, talking quietly, when Pepper, looking flushed and content, took a seat next to Bruce.

"Congratulations," he told her, looking over.

She laughed breathlessly. "I don't think I've thanked you for making sure he'd be here." She rolled her eyes. "He reassured me there was no chance he'd miss it, but with the way his mind works…" She shook her head. "He probably would've shown up a week late, wondering where everybody was."

Bruce chuckled, brows hiked as he nodded. "Sounds like him."

Pepper fanned herself as she leaned back in her chair, her satin wedding gown draped stunningly over her. Her eyes moved to her husband and Darcy, dancing in dramatically wide circles now.

"Tony mentioned you might be the next to walk down the aisle," she said, her head tipped gently.

Bruce licked his lips, not surprised Pepper knew. "Tony has a big mouth," he said, sounding exasperated.

She laughed. "Yes."

He half-smiled, before looking down at the table and twisting the embroidered napkin there between his hands. "I never thought I'd have this…" He shrugged. "Eventually, I just… I accepted that I was never going to be normal. I would never be safe for anyone to be around. Nobody—" He laughed bitterly. "Nobody deserved to be stuck with that and there probably weren't a lot of people who'd be willing to try."

Pepper's face softened. "Darcy's not your average person."

"No." He looked up, watching Darcy across the floor, smiling as Tony bowed again, kissing the top of her hand before he twirled her away and offered her up to the masses. Coulson caught her, looking slightly surprised, but offering as close to a smile as he ever gave and took Darcy's hand in his to dance. "She's…"

"Unexpected." Pepper turned to look at him, one of her hands playing with the pearl earring she wore. "I never expected to fall in love with Tony…" Her lips curled. "Some days I question what I'm even doing…" She shook her head. "It's hard. Loving someone that is so much larger than life." She looked away, searching Tony out in the crowd. "He's told me that I ground him; that when the rest of the world seems to be chaotic, I'm the one stable thing he can always rely on…" Her brow furrowed. "And the funny thing is, for all of his self-made chaos, he's that for me too." Her eyes fell. "Bruce, I can't convince you that Darcy is the right person for you or that either of you should get married. I think you already know. But I can tell you that when she looks at you… She lights up." She smiled. "And when you look back, I've never seen you look happier."

"So you're saying she'll probably be reaching for the bouquet?"

Pepper laughed elegantly, a smile stretching her lips. "She can try, but Natasha's made it quite clear that if there's a challenge, she's taking it." Standing from her seat, she smoothed out her dress and told him, "Waiting for a sign isn't going to get you anywhere. If you're ready, if you think she's ready, then do what you think is right for both of you."

Bruce nodded, ducking his eyes. "Thanks, Pepper."

"Of course." She grinned as Tony started toward her, his arms out. "Good luck."

With a laugh, he looked between her and Tony and said, "Same to you."

She chuckled, but she didn't look the least bit worried as she walked into Tony's arms and let him pull her out onto the dance floor.

"Okay, I think I'm all danced out," Darcy's voice interrupted as she plopped down in Pepper's vacated seat, panting slightly. "Seriously, I knew Cap had stamina, but I think he's danced with everybody here and he hasn't even broken a sweat." She fanned herself. "And FYI, being an assassin doesn't stop Clint from being a country boy at heart."

Bruce snorted. "Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to avoid him the next time I try my hand on the dance floor."

Smiling, she leaned forward, dropping her elbows to the tabletop. "You missed some good tunes, Doc. I hear they might even break out the chicken dance soon." She winked at him.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Scooting her chair closer to his, Darcy dropped her head to his shoulder and reached over to play with the gold silk tie he was wearing. "You're looking pretty dapper, mister best man."

"You're looking pretty gorgeous yourself," he said, reaching up to tuck a loose curl behind her ear.

"I know, right?"

He grinned.

Hooking his arm around her waist, he leaned his head against the top of hers and watched the couples move, with Tony and Pepper at the center. "They look happy," he mused.

"Wedded bliss does that to you," Darcy mused.

Bruce's thumb stroked back and forth over her side and he gathered his courage for a few, long seconds. "Have you ever thought about it?"

"Marrying Tony? Eh. Not really my speed, y'know?" She tipped her head back to look at him. "I like my geniuses just a little less flashy."

He snorted. "Because giant and green isn't _at all_ attention getting."

She shrugged. "Blends in better than red and gold."

"I don't think anything nine feet tall really blends in," he argued.

Rolling her eyes, she scoffed. "Well I'd take Hulk over Iron Man any day."

"So you've thought about it then?" He turned his thumb up and stroked around her elbow. "Wedding, marriage, that kind of thing…?"

Darcy's eyes dropped. "I once planned my whole wedding in grade six, but the groom was Marky-Mark, so I don't think that one's coming true any time soon…"

"_Darcy_…" he sighed, not sure if he wanted to give up or laugh at the absurdity.

"Okay, serious time. Memo received." She chewed her lip, staring down for a moment. "Have I thought about marrying you…? Yes. _Of course_." She covered his hand on her waist and turned her head to nuzzle his neck. "I might've mentally figured out the wedding party and wondered just how much food we'd need for the guests _and_ to keep Steve and Thor happy while still managing not to break the bank. And I might've written my vows once or twice, with key words like 'fluffy' and 'scienc-y' and 'IV'."

He smiled.

"So I've thought about it. A lot. Like I might've once completely ignored work an entire morning because I was wondering what kind of dress I could wear that would cover the girls, but still kind of show them off…" She picked a loose thread on the table cloth. "Since you're asking, I'm guessing it's crossed your mind?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "We never really talked about it seriously though. I wanted to know where you were at. If you were… _ready_ for that kind of commitment."

Darcy moved to sit up, turning to face him. "Bruce, I don't need a ring to be committed to you." She stared at him searchingly. "I know what I want out of this relationship. I knew when I finally took a leap and just kissed you…" She shook her head. "There's nobody in this world I could want more than my fluffy scientist..." She smirked then. "And I'd know, because I have free reign of a super secret database that basically has information on every living person, _so_…"

Bruce grinned. "So you've been exploring your options while at work? Checking to see if there was anyone out there fluffier than me?"

She laughed, sliding a hand over his thigh. "Even if there was…" Her eyes rose up. "I think you're just the right amount of fluffy for this girl." She reached up to brush her fingers through his hair. "Happy?"

He nodded. "Ecstatic."

"Awesome." She raised a brow. "So wanna go find a closet and have hot wedding sex?"

"There's like a dozen guest rooms and you want to find a _closet?_"

Darcy rolled her eyes. "It's like a tradition or something. Most people don't have billion dollar mansions."

He snorted, but stood, offering her a hand. "Fine. But only because this is Tony and his closets are probably the size of a small bedroom anyway."

"No sense of adventure," she muttered, reaching up to smooth out his tie.

Bruce thought hiking her dress up and taking her against a wall where anybody could hear them and thus making her scream his name at decibels only dogs could hear was pretty adventurous. Darcy wasn't arguing with him when she had that blissed out grin on her lips and her legs were still shaking.

There was a lot of relief that came with knowing Darcy was on a similar page as him in terms of getting married.

Truth be told, three years after everything began, Bruce was still surprised that his life had taken such an amazing turn. The Avengers weren't just team mates, but brother's in arms, and more than that, they were his family. He still had his bad days, still had times when he couldn't control the change and woke up naked and in pain in the medical bay, worried that The Other Guy had hurt or damaged something. But the good outweighed the bad.

Which was why, when he didn't think his life could get any better, he proved himself wrong.

The engagement ring he bought her was something he had designed specifically. There was something about Darcy that always defied the average mold, and he felt her ring should be the same.

The band was thin and ringed with alternating stones of green emeralds and diamonds, while lines of silver braided like loose vines across the top to hold a round diamond. It was perfect and it was Darcy and when he picked it up from the store, he was grinning so widely that his face hurt.

He didn't tell anybody what he had planned. Not even Tony. Partly because his best friend wasn't the best secret keeper, especially when it came to anyone involved in their tight-knit little family of sorts. And Tony had made it no secret that he thought Bruce should just marry Darcy already, so he imagined he'd be blabbing it to anybody that would listen, with a twist of him being the reason 'those two crazy kids' finally got engaged.

And partly too because Tony's birthday was only a week away so he knew that if he heard about the engagement he would want to throw a party, taking away from himself. While Tony wasn't always the picture of selflessness, when it came to certain people or occasions, Bruce knew he would completely ignore his birthday in favor of his friends. But for once, Bruce felt like encouraging that mile wide ego streak in Tony; if there was any day he _should _be seeking attention it was his birthday. So he figured they would likely get engaged and keep it quiet until the Stark party bus finally kicked them all off and _then _they could tell everyone; that way Tony got to celebrate his own achievement at managing to live another year, despite nearly blowing himself up far too many times to count, _and _there was no risk of Darcy finding out he was going to propose.

It was a win/win situation.

The first night he planned to propose, things backfired. They were called out on a mission and he had still been in the lab, putting the final touches on everything, with a little bit of help from a very excited Scooter.

"This is so romantic!" she squealed, fairly jumping where she stood.

Bruce offered her a grin. "Thank you."

"Oh, you guys are so cute together! You're gonna be so happy! And the wedding!" Her eyes went wide. "I _love _weddings! Do you think I could come?" She hugged her folders to her chest and crossed her fingers hopefully. "I'll be quiet. I'll stay out of the way, I promise."

He chuckled under his breath. "Sure, Scooter. And you don't have to hide in the back corner. You're more than welcome to sit up front with everyone."

Her smile widened. "Have you figured out who will be in your wedding party?" She rolled her eyes at herself. "I mean, besides Mr. Stark. He sent out a memo _months _ago that he shottied best man. Of course, that was before you were even _talking _about getting married, so it raised a few eyebrows, but—" She waved a dismissive hand. "It's Mr. Stark, so everybody just wrote it off pretty quick."

"Tony will be best man," he agreed, nodding. "But, no, I haven't really thought about it much…" He smiled crookedly. "I really only got to the part where I'm hopefully getting married to Darcy."

"_Oooohhh…_" she cooed, a hand pressed to her heart. "She's going to _cry _when you propose! Or…" Her brow furrowed. "_I _would. Do you think she will?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Darcy's not really a crier."

"Yeah, she seems pretty tough." Her eyes darted off. "I mean, she'd have to be, right? She trains with Black Widow and she's good friends with all of the Avengers and she's dating you and she's been seen I don't know _how _many times calming the Hulk down…" she mused, with a touch of hero-worship in her voice.

Bruce smiled to himself. It was no secret that his assistant seemed to think Darcy was as fascinating as any Avenger ever was. Maybe it was that she seemed to be able to handle the Hulk without so much as twitching or maybe it was just Darcy's natural way about her, taking everything that came at her with relative calm. Perhaps it was that Darcy's introduction to this world was tazing a God, but she'd been pretty accepting of what SHIELD and the world of superheroes had to off her since. And Scooter seemed to pick up on and admire that about her.

"_Well_, I think it's going to be amazing!" Scooted declared, before tipping her head inquisitively. "Did you memorize your cue cards?"

He patted his pocket. "I did. But just in case, I think I'll bring them with me."

"Do you think she'll be surprised?"

He smiled. "I hope so."

"Those are the best kind of proposals, I think. And—"

An alarm rang out then, drawing everybody's attention.

Bruce frowned, eyeing the light that flashed tellingly.

"**_Avengers, Assemble!_**" a disembodied voice suddenly radioed through the lab.

Bruce's chin fell, knocking against his chest.

With a sigh, he shrugged off his lab coat, pulled his cue cards out to hide away in his desk drawer, placed his glasses on the desk, and offered a half-smile to a visibly disappointed Scooter. "Tomorrow night," he told her decisively.

She offered him a smile in return. "Of course, Dr. Banner. Um, h-have a good… mission," she told him awkwardly.

"Thank you, Scooter." He started for the doors. "If Darcy shows up here, please tell her I'll see her later and not to worry."

She gave him a clear nod.

Bruce met up with a cheerfully calm Tony as he walked down the hallway, who offered him some gum.

He raised a brow. "Really? You think Hulk's a cinnamon kind of guy?"

He merely smirked. "How _is_ the big guy? He ready to play?"

Bruce snorted. "Always."

When he woke up later, it was still dark out. The steady beeping of his heart monitor filled his ears first, and then the soft, familiar snoring. He turned his head, blinked a few times, and found Darcy curled up next to the bed, her head resting next to his hand. He reached for her, letting his fingers graze her sleep-mussed hair. So it wasn't exactly the night he had planned, considering he thought they'd be sharing a bed in celebration of their engagement. But when she looked up at him with a tired smile that only lengthened as his fingers traced her cheek, he figured one botched attempt wasn't going to ruin anything. He would just try again.

The second time he planned a proposal, the very next night, his plans were interrupted by Darcy's mom Ellen. They'd just sat down to eat dinner when the phone rang and a drunk, crying, ranting Ellen wanted someone to listen to her. Darcy offered him an apologetic shrug, which Bruce took as well as he could. He poured her a glass of wine, handed her a laptop with her preloaded Tumblr dash on it, and rubbed her feet while he read through some leftover paperwork he'd brought home with him. By the time Darcy hung up, he knew she was in no mood to be proposed to, so instead, he reheated their dinner and curled up with her on the couch as they put on the latest episode of The Vampire Diaries and got lost in the character's dramatic lives.

Bruce was adamant that third time was the charm. But a city-wide black out said different. The only thing still running in the Avengers tower was JARVIS and that was because Tony, despite probably being the reason all of New York was surrounded by darkness, made sure that his AI would never be offline.

"How long before the looting starts, ya think?" Darcy wondered, peering out their living room window at the city below, though it was hard to make out anything.

Bruce checked his watch. "A half hour?"

Her nose wrinkled, but she turned to look at him. "Do you think they'll call you out? Hulk isn't really the civilian wrangling type…"

He shook his head. "No, I think they'll leave it up to the rest of the team… Except maybe Natasha." He frowned. "I don't think she has the patience to deal with them without causing severe harm."

Darcy laughed, her head falling back.

"I'm going to get the emergency candles out," he told her.

"I think we have one of those lamp things too… Pepper had a kit made up for just this kind of thing…" She rolled her eyes. "Not that I'm surprised; it's _Tony_…"

"Technically, we don't _know _that this is Tony's fault."

"Hmm… You're right. I mean, it's _probably _him, but if it's not, that means you _could _be called out to deal with some crazy energy stealing monster."

"Or somebody who just wants to use the night as a cover to do something. I mean, who _steals _energy? That's probably not the _best _villain power."

"I don't _know!_" she complained. "I don't have a villain handbook… Although I've talked to Coulson about writing one."

Bruce lit a few candles he found in their emergency drawer and placed them along the kitchen island, while she found the lantern in the hallway closet. "What'd Coulson say?"

"He gave me that weird, enigmatic smile and said 'What makes you think I haven't already written it, Miss. Lewis?'" She rolled her eyes, turning the lamp up as she placed it on the table; a warm glow lit up her face, where a lopsided smile sat. "Which is kinda cool, actually…" Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "You think he keeps it in his office?"

"I think if he did, you'd never find it."

She grinned at him and pointed. "Challenge accepted."

He chuckled under his breath before looking over at her from under his eyebrows. "This wasn't how I planned our night going…"

"No?" She looked around, biting her lip. "I don't know. I kind of like it…" She twirled before circling the table to him. "It's all dark, with some mood-lighting going on… There's you and me and way too many clothes…" She reached for him, fingers playing with the buttons of his shirt.

And Bruce thought about it, thought about how every attempt to make this perfect had backfired. Darcy was right. It was just the two of them in a warmly glowing room. The rest of the team would likely deal with any looters and if it was something worse, then he'd be called out. But why wait for that perfect moment when their lives seemed to be a jumble of the perfect and imperfect at any given second?

"JARVIS?" he called out, turning his head up.

"Things took a weird turn," Darcy mumbled. "Are we taping this? Because, I'm good with that, but, y'know, I'm not wearing my best lingerie, so maybe a heads-up or some time to change…"

Bruce snorted, but focused his attention on the AI as it replied, "Yes, Dr. Banner?"

"Could you cue up the playlist we made?"

"Of course, sir."

"Playlist?" Darcy asked, her brows furrowed.

A guitar filled the room and then her eyes widened, her brows furrowed.

"I know this song…"

_I was here…  
All alone…  
Holding on to letting go,  
Until you came and brushed me off,  
Said don't you know that you're enough,  
And how you see the things in me,  
I swear that no one else can see,  
The blinding stars,  
I'd give them all,  
To see you…  
To feel you…_

Bruce smiled and offered her a hand. "Will you dance with me?"

She looked up at him, her face soft. Biting her lip instead of offering up a snarky comeback, she took his hand, and let him pull her into his arms, his free hand lifting hers to his shoulder before settling on her waist.

As they started moving around the room, he told her, "JARVIS and I went through your iPod and found your most listened to songs… I know you mentioned this singer before, so I went through hers specifically for the right opener." He shrugged slightly, feeling a little self-conscious.

"You made me a playlist," she murmured, her voice thick.

"I wanted it to be just right…" He stared down at her searchingly.

_Here's our night,  
Here's the perfect time to say these words to you…  
I was fine,  
but so much better now,_

_that I am here,  
with you I find that in your eyes,  
I see forever burning bright,  
you ask me if I think I was meant for you,  
I do…_

Her hand squeezed his shoulder. "Nobody's ever made me a playlist before…" She shook her head. "I mean I made that one for you for when you're sciencing out and one to zen you down, apparently whale music is harder to find than I thought…" She lifted a finger to make a point. "And I made Jane a few, but I'm never sure she even hears them through the _thinking _fog…" She shrugged. "And there was that one I made for Coulson with songs about ninjas and badasses; he rolled his eyes but I hear it through his office door sometimes."

Bruce smiled at her babbling. "Somewhere on here is 'It Ain't Easy Being Green'…"

Her brows hiked. "In honor of my kidnapping?" She grinned. "I'm touched."

He chuckled under his breath before lifting his arm and twirling her under it.

_Make a move,  
I'm going to,  
just say the word,  
and you come through,  
for better, worse,  
or rich or poor,  
I never wanted something more,  
and when my world,  
is falling down,  
the only one who stayed around,  
is in my arms,  
and on my heart,  
it's always been you…_

As she came to a stop, smiling widely, he brought her in close, his hand settling on the small of her back, and he dropped his forehead down to hers. "I had this planned… I had every detail figured out. From how long the food would take to what I would say; I kept everything on cue cards and memorized it just in case…" He stared at her searchingly. "But our life isn't giving me much of a break here, so I'm not going to wait for us to have that perfect moment."

Darcy's hand slid up his shoulder and curled in the hair at the nape of his neck. "I don't know… This feels pretty perfect so far," she said, her voice a little breathless.

"I should probably be kneeling," he mused.

She shook her head ever so slightly. "I think if you let me go, my knees might buckle."

His eyebrow quirked. "Is that good or…?"

She laughed abruptly, her eyes wide. "It's good. I'm just…" She let out a shaky breath. "I'm surprised, but not, but also really excited."

"Good."

She nodded. "Very good."

He slid his other arm around her, his hand sliding down the length of her arm slowly, watching as she shivered and bit her lip. He squeezed her shoulder before tracing his fingers down her spine.

_As we move across the floor,  
I never felt like this before,  
You make me better,  
in your arms I feel like I am home…_

"Darcy—"

"Yes!" she interrupted.

He laughed.

She flushed. "Sorry… I _told _you I was excited." She rolled her eyes.

Kissing her, he lingered, suckling her lower lip. When he drew back, she swallowed, her eyes opening to look up at him.

"Okay, you can try again," she told him.

"Thank you." He traced circles on her back. "I've been thinking about this for awhile…" He shook his head. "More so, since you were taken, but… that's not why I'm asking. It's not…" He stopped himself and sighed, closing his eyes and trying to gather his thoughts; he lifted a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Her fingers skittered up and down his neck, tracing the shells of his ears.

Taking a deep breath, he replaced his hand at her back and told her, "I never thought I could be this happy… I never thought anybody would love both sides of me…" He laughed humorlessly. "I never thought I could accept The Other Guy or put him to good use…" He sobered. "And now I have you in my life and suddenly it's like everything I never thought I could have is possible again…" He slowly lifted his gaze from her lips to her nose and met her gaze. "I want to spend the rest of my life waking up with you in my arms. I want to hear you teasing me about whale music and hearing about your impromptu dates with my greener half. I—I want to spend it looking at the clock, waiting for it to be seven so I'll see you walk through the lab doors to remind me it's time to come home. And I want to know that home means _you_."

She blinked quickly, her eyes shimmering.

"I can't promise it's going to be easy." He shook his head. "I'm never _not _going to have a giant green problem, but I'd like to think that he's more hero than hindrance these days…" He rubbed his hands up to her shoulder blades and kneaded. "And I know our life is weird and complicated, but it's _ours_ and I don't—" He swallowed tightly. "There is _nobody _I want to spend it with more than you."

A watery smile pulled at her mouth.

"So…" He inhaled deeply. "Darcenia '_Fantabulous_'—"

She laughed, sniffling.

"—Constance Lewis…" He smiled. "Will you marry me?"

She nodded quickly, before cupping his face and bringing him down for a kiss. "Yes," she said, against his lips. "_Yes_."

_I was fine,  
but so much better now,  
that I am here,  
with you I find that in your eyes,  
I see forever burning bright,  
you ask me if I think I was meant for you…  
I do…_

_I do…_

A laugh broke out though his mouth, relief flooding through him. And suddenly their kissing went from just excited to something deeper, harder. They were stumbling back, bumping into the table, sending shadows over the wall as the lamp shifted.

The song changed in the same moment Darcy tore open the buttons on his shirt and shoved it down his shoulders. It caught on his elbows, his arms still ringed around her waist. Humming, he pulled back. "The ring," he said.

"Huh?" Distracted, she caught his mouth again, tugging his shirt out of his pants and unbuckling the belt.

"Ring. I have a ring." He pushed himself back and away from her, smiling lopsidedly as she pouted her lips out. "Just— Stay right there." He waved at her before moving back toward kitchen.

Her eyes followed him, eyebrow quirked. "You hid it in the kitchen?"

He pulled out a protein shake canister and smirked. "I hid it where I knew you'd never look."

Darcy's nose wrinkled. "Those things are awful! I can't believe Tony actually drinks them."

Snorting, Bruce dug the velvet box out from inside and crossed back to her, finally kneeling down and taking her hand. "I hope you like it," he said, before popping the box open and holding it up a little uncertainly.

When there was no sound, he started to really worry, and his eyes moved quickly from the ring up to her. "Darcy?"

"It's beautiful." She reached for it. "It's all… _blingy_."

He laughed. "That's good, right?"

She nodded, chewing her lip.

Bruce pulled the ring from its cushion and slid it onto her finger, smiling as he stood back up. "There. Perfect."

Darcy lifted her hand, her head tipped, and admired the way it sparkled. "I kind of feel like a princess…" she admitted.

Hugging her waist, he brought her closer. "You'll get used to it… I mean, it's not like Pepper's; you could probably see that thing from space." He rolled his eyes. "Tony's idea of shock value I think."

She shook her head. "No, this is better. It's…" She rubbed her thumb over it. "I love the green." She smiled. "_Ugh_. It's beautiful." She turned and kissed him. "You are getting super-laid tonight, mister."

"_Super-_laid?" He raised an eyebrow, lips twitching. "Is that even a thing?"

"We are _making _it a thing." She pulled his shirt completely free and tossed it away. Wiggling herself back, she sat down on the table and yanked his belt from the loops, smirking. "Is there any sexy tunes on this playlist?" she wondered, swinging the belt like a lasso.

He laughed. "What do you think?"

Tugging him closer by the waist of his pants, she tipped her head back for a kiss. "JARVIS?"

Without a reply, and if Bruce didn't know better he'd think the AI was slightly uncomfortable with being a part of their _private _time, the song switched to something with a deeper, sexier beat.

"_Perfect_." Darcy nodded, unzipping his pants and digging her hand inside to cup him.

* * *

_SMUT has been removed due to NC-17 restrictions on FFnet. If you want to read it, please find me on my AO3 or LJ accounts, under the penname sarcastic_fina. Sorry folks!_

* * *

It was a few minutes before he could do much more than breathe.

Darcy slowly turned over to lie next to him, saying rather breathlessly, "It's a good thing we usually eat at the island…"

He laughed tiredly and turned his head to look at her. She was flushed and sweaty and beautiful.

Looking at him sidelong, she grinned, and said, "Hey fiancé." Her eyes lit up and she slapped her hand against his chest. "Oh my god! Aunt Mary is going to _freak!_"

He smiled lazily and hugged her to his side. "We're still not naming our first kid after her."

"Fine, but _you _have to tell her," she said, poking him in the chest.

He caught her hand and trailed his finger over the engagement ring. Tugging on her finger, he looked over at her. "I love you."

Her lips curled and she pressed a short, close-lipped kiss against his mouth, while scrubbing her fingers through his hair. "I love you too, Doc."

They laid there awhile, cuddled close, his fingers rubbing circles around her elbow, their legs tangled. It wasn't until the lights suddenly turned back on that they climbed off the table and, after stretching their backs, made their way toward the bedroom. He caught her just short of the room and lifted her up bridal style, even when she rolled her eyes and smiled despite herself.

"You're so cheesy," she said, but hugged her arms around his neck. "And fluffy."

He shook his head, amused that she was still so admiring of his hair.

As he laid her down on the bed, he crawled in next to her, much more comfortable than the unforgiving table.

"Tony's going to be so excited!" she told him, drawing circles on his stomach.

"I figured we'd wait until after his birthday."

She nodded. "Good idea." She wiggled closer. "I'm picking up his gift…" She glanced around the room suspiciously. "At that place with the stuff on that day."

He chuckled under his breath. "I don't think JARVIS is going to tell him, Darce."

"Shh!" She waved a hand at him. "Hey, I trust him just fine. He's my artificial boy!" she assured. "But he's still Tony's and I love the guy, but he's the biggest snoop to ever snoop. He wants to know what he's getting for his birthday and this girl is not ruining the surprise!" She looked up at him, her eyes wide for emphasis. "So we'll keep with the code."

"What code?" He shook his head. "That was mostly nonsense."

She frowned, her eyebrow cocked. "Are you confused?"

"No. But that's because I already know where, when and what."

"Exactly." She shrugged. "So we're good."

"Fine, but for future reference, your code skills are a little suspect."

Rolling her eyes, Darcy dropped her head back to his shoulder. "Keep talking, I'm just going to make you regret it during round two." She pinched his side. "Don't think just because we're getting married I won't make you beg."

He laughed. "Duly noted."

"Hey, you think Natasha would be up to wearing a dress Aunt Mary made?"

He grimaced. "I think if Aunt Mary wants to live to _see _our future children she should probably not design the bridesmaid dresses…"

"Yeah, you're probably right…" She hummed, sliding her leg between his.

Bruce rubbed her shoulder absently, a worry he'd often pushed away niggling forward. "Are you sure I'll make a good husband?" he wondered.

Darcy turned her head up to look at him and saw the uncertain expression cross his face. Straddling him, she pressed her hands down against his shoulder and waited until he met her eyes. "You're going to be the best husband I could ever ask for." She smiled. "Bruce, I have no doubts about this. In this crazy world we live in, all of its up and downs and crime fighting, and totally surreal super-heroics…" She shook her head. "You're my rock." She flattened herself against him. "My big, green, fluffy rock."

He brushed her hair back and let her words sink in until they erased that doubt in him. He took them to heart until he believed that he really would. Maybe he wouldn't make a good husband for just anybody, but for Darcy? He vowed he'd be the best.

Leaning up, he kissed her, sealing it, and her fingers curled in his hair as her knees slid up his sides and squeezed. Round two on the horizon.

With a laugh, he turned her over onto her back, feeling happier and more hopeful for his future than ever before.

Unfortunately, life was never so kind. As a future with Darcy was impossible. In twenty-four hours, he would have no girlfriend, no fiancée, no Darcy at all.

[**Next**: Part VI.]

* * *

**Notes**: _The song that was playing while they danced and he proposed was "I Do," by Meghan Tonjes (find it on YouTube!). Also, I hate to do this to you guys, but I'm leaving town tomorrow morning and won't be back until Thursday! So unfortunately, I won't be able to post the last chapter until then! I want to thank everyone who left a review or a kudos for their amazing feedback and all of you for being so awesome and reading this! I promise to have the last chapter up either Thursday or Friday, depending on how exhausted I am. Also, for those interested, I have another, much happier Darcy/Bruce novel-ish fic planned, as well as Darcy/Steve and a Darcy/Clint. So keep an eye out for those next weekend too! _


	6. Part VI

**Title**: Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)  
**Song**: Lift Me Up - Mree  
**Category**: Thor/Avengers  
**Genre**: Romance/Drama/Humor/Tragedy  
**Ship**: Bruce/Darcy  
**Rating**: NC-17  
**Prompt**: Day #4 – Crimson | Darcy Lewis Week (I'm late to the party and I don't care)  
**Warning(s)**: Sexual Content, Coarse Language, Character Death  
**Author's Note**: This was meant to be a oneshot, but it got so long that I had to separate it into parts.  
**Word Count**: 9,238  
**Summary**: From the beginning to the end; how Bruce finally lets himself find happiness only to have it destroyed.

**_Here Among The Clouds, We Are Safe and Sound (You Lift Me Up)_**  
-Novel-

**V.**

Newton's third law of motion stated that for every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction.

Bruce sometimes thought that Darcy was life's way of making it up to him, for his abusive father and lackluster childhood, for the gamma-ray incident, for all his years on the run, and just the significant amount of pain —physically, mentally, and emotionally— that he'd suffered throughout the years.

He thought being in love with Darcy, creating a life with her, that was his reward.

But it seemed the balance was off somehow. The destruction, mayhem, and pain he'd suffered did not equate to the happiness and love he shared with Darcy. So life, the malevolent force that it had always been from his view, intervened to level out the scales…

Bruce woke up happy that morning. He woke up feeling better than possibly ever before. Being freshly engaged to an amazing woman could do that to him.

A smile stretched his lips in the same moment his eyes opened to slits against the sun shining in through the window. He turned his head first and a laugh stuck in his throat. Darcy's hair was _everywhere_; it was tangled and sticking up at odd angles, it was frizzy and stuck to her cheek. A pool of drool formed under her parted mouth against her pillow. Her brow furrowed as she mumbled something about 'smashing' something.

Her hands were tucked up under her chin, like they often were. She moved around a lot in her sleep; it seemed like they always fell asleep wrapped in each other but at some point during the night she would kick off the blankets and roll around until she was in a little ball, her hands folded up under her chin. She napped on the couch once and Clint called her Chip for a week, saying the way she held her hands reminded him of a family of chipmunk's he'd run into on a mission where he spent entirely too much time sitting in a tree. They used to rub their hands together, over and over against, and cup them under their chins. Sometimes, he broke out the old nickname just to see her roll her eyes and watch as she threatened him in some unusual 'Darcy' way, which usually, but not always, involved her tazer.

Her fingernails were chipped and painted in faded neon nail polish. She was favoring yellow lately, but she always kept at least one finger painted green.

_Darcy examined her thumb, painted a bright mint green. "You don't think it goes with the pink? I think I rock it." She grinned. "Think of it like this…" She waved her thumb at him. "It's my ode to my boy."_

_"Some people write poems or tattoo their significant other's name on their person…" He raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching. "But you're always going to have a finger or toe painted for me?"_

_"Pretty cool, right?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "Look at us, being all unique and stuff."_

_"Personally, I don't think I have anything on me that returns the sentiment."_

_She thought it over a second before smirking and snapping her fingers. "Y'know what? The cheesy, lovey, I just-got-laid smile works just as good!" _

_He snorted, rolling his eyes with affectionate amusement._

_"You're welcome," she said cheerfully, leaning down to kiss him before she walked off, waving her hand behind her, her green thumb proudly on display._

The hand with her green fingernail was the same that wore her engagement ring, winking as the sun filled the room further. He was surprised JARVIS hadn't set off the usual morning alarm to get them motivated. He squinted his eyes at the clock on his bedside table and reached for his glasses in the same moment, nearly knocking them onto the floor in his partly blind reach.

He frowned. "Darce, it's almost eight." He shoved up to a seated position and reached back for her, shaking her knee.

She groaned, ducking her head. "Go 'way. Sleep time."

He snorted. "Sleepy time is over." He pushed up onto his feet, ignoring the slippers he always put there but never seemed to use. "We're gonna be late. Come on. If you wanna shower, we gotta go now."

She smiled lazily and stretched out, her arms above her head, doing amazing things to her chest, and her toes wiggling and reaching for the end of the bed. "This mean we're sharing?"

He rolled his eyes, lips twitching. "Yes."

Usually, they didn't share; at least not in the mornings. But that was because Darcy and naked computed to blowing off the entire morning and getting absolutely no work done. Given the time restraint though, he figured there wasn't any other option if they both wanted to be refreshed and on time for work.

"_Apologies, Dr. Banner, but with your… late night activities, I thought a bit of rest might do you both good_," JARVIS told him.

Snorting, Darcy padded across the bedroom toward the bathroom. "I like the way you think, JARV!"

"_I'm flattered_," he intoned back.

Shaking his head to himself, Bruce followed Darcy into the bathroom, where the usual shower playlist Darcy had made some time ago played via JARVIS, echoing some given the acoustics of the bathroom.

She was testing the water with her hand while he collected their towels. "I'm feeling a little boneless, how about you?" she wondered.

His lips stretched rather proudly. "I feel great."

She looked at him over her shoulder, her hair still looking crazy. "It was probably round three… That stretchy thing I did? I mean, besides the leg cramp, that was ah-_maze_-ing!"

He chuckled. "It was."

Deeming the water just right, she stepped underneath it and combed her fingers through quickly dampening hair, frowning when they got stuck.

"I told you, if you just brush it first…" he muttered, following her into the shower, which was infinitely larger since Tony had remodeled it two and a half years prior. And he was right; the overhead waterfall showerhead was pretty useful.

Darcy made a face at him. "First, we don't have _time _for that. And second, why the hell do I buy that stupid shampoo that said it would break up knots if it's not going to work on my super sex hair?"

"Maybe they weren't anticipating your hair… or just how _super _our sex life would be," he said, taking her by the hips and turning her so she was facing away from him. He was far more patient than her, which made it much easier for him to separate her hair into something less chaotic. She lathered a loofah with his body wash and started scrubbing herself down, all the while dancing and humming to the music, while Bruce found her favorite shampoo and filled his palm with it.

"So I was thinking…" She glanced at him over her shoulder while he scrubbed her hair into a white, bubbly mass, his brow furrowed with concentration. "Maybe we could have the wedding this summer. We could go out to Aunt Mary's and have it at her place."

"Out by the tire swing that's probably going to fall off that crabapple tree any day now?" he asked, smiling.

She rolled her eyes. "So the rope was a little worn… I tied that up there when I was like, _ten_…"

"Which is probably why you shouldn't have been swinging on it..."

"Bruce Banner, are you suggesting I put on weight since I was a scrawny ten year old?" she asked, her tone playful rather than condemning.

He slid his hands down her front, soapy hands curling around her full breasts. "What would give me that idea?"

She laughed, covering his hands in hers. "You're wandering into dangerous area here, Doc. You keep this up and we won't be getting cleaner."

He hummed, but rubbed his palms up and over, thumbs thrumming across her nipples. "I'd argue I'm _helping _you get clean…"

Darcy arched her butt back to rub against him. "You're supposed to be the smart, logical one…" she reminded. "Besides, I'm sure we can get away for lunch."

He slid his hands back up, kneading her neck, before burying his fingers in her hair again. "Looking forward to it," he said. "So we're getting married at Mary's? You think everyone will fit in the backyard?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "I know Tony's going to offer to pay for everything and make it into this big _thing_, but I think it'd be nicer if it was just close friends and family. So like, the team, Coulson, Pepper, Jane, Scooter, me, you, and Aunt Mary."

He nodded, dragging his hands down her hair and pausing to rub her shoulders with his soapy hands. "And your mother?" he wondered. "Did you want to tell her?"

Darcy shrugged, saying quiet, her head bowed slightly.

Bruce started washing the shampoo from her hair. "I've never met her." He frowned. "Not that I'm complaining, I know you guys have a contentious relationship."

"Contentious is just a nice word for 'she's batshit crazy and doesn't really like me,' isn't it?"

He was silent a long moment, before he squeezed the last of soap from her hair and turned her around so she was facing him. "Darcy, I don't know Ellen, so I can't say what her feelings are…" He stared at her searchingly. Her eyelashes were wet and spiked, framing her blue eyes that peered over his shoulder sadly. "I just know that she's missing out." He tucked a stray chunk of wet hair behind her ear. "You're an amazing person. And if Mary's anything to base it on, a wonderful daughter… I count myself lucky to be marrying you." He shook his head. "If you don't want her to be involved, I'm okay with that. I just don't want you to have any regrets when it comes to our wedding or our marriage or—"

"I have no regrets." She covered his mouth with her wet fingers, staring up at him with her eyebrows hiked. "Not when it comes to you, okay?"

He nodded slowly.

She dragged her hand away and let her knuckles linger over the stubble of his cheek. "Sometimes I get weird about my mom, I know that. I just… I don't know." She wrinkled her nose. "Aunt Mary's always been there; she's who I share everything with. So when I realize that most girls would want their mom there to help 'em pick out a dress or plan the wedding or eat a crapload of cake to find the right one, I kind of feel bad… I don't _think _about her. I think of Aunt Mary and how awesome she is and how happy she's going to be." She shrugged, sliding her hand around to tug through his wet hair. "And she will be. She's going to be so excited!" Her eyes flashed happily. "So mom? She can suck it. I don't want her ruining our day. I don't want her involved. And yeah, maybe that's sad, but…" She nodded. "I'm okay with that."

He sighed. "Okay." He nodded, leaning down to press his forehead to hers. "Okay."

"Cool." She turned herself around and grabbed the conditioner, handing it to him over her shoulder. "Let's get his show on the road, Doc. If we stay naked much longer, I'm going to rock your world against the wall and then we'll have to explain to all the lab techs and Coulson why we're late and you look freshly laid!"

He grinned, rolled his eyes, and filled his hand with conditioner.

It wasn't until they were dressed and had hurried through a breakfast of toast and coffee, tea for him, before they realized that the ring was going to be a big tip off.

"I don't like hiding it, but I really want Tony's birthday to be just his own."

Darcy nodded. "I totally get that…" She chewed her lip before lighting up. Tugging a chain from her neck, where a mood ring her aunt had given to her when she was eight hung, she unfastened it so she could slide her engagement ring onto the chain with it. Tucking it under her blouse, she held her hands up and said happily, "Problem solved." Buffing her nails on the front of her shirt, she added, "And this is why I'm Coulson's favorite!"

Chuckling under his breath, he leaned over and kissed her. "Your problem solving skills are something of legend," he said against her lips.

"Along with my bedroom skills, right?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "My amazing prowess should have _sonnets _written about it!"

He grinned. "I'll work one out on my lunch break."

Hands on his hips, she pressed closer against him and hummed. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Fine, but I feel like I should go on record by telling you that my sonnet writing skills are rusty…" Dragging his hand up her back, he added, "And that they weren't good even before I let them go to waste."

She laughed lightly, her head falling back.

His face softened as her hair spilled over her shoulder. His hand rose up and tugged her necklace free, fiddling with the diamond ring on the end. "This is really happening, right?" His eyebrows furrowed. "Because it feels like it wasn't so long ago that I was in a third world country, on the run, and ready and willing to kill myself… In fact, I _tried_…" He swallowed tightly. "And now I'm here and things are working out. I—I have some semblance of control and I trust in The Other Guy enough that I'm not constantly in a state of fear, and—and I have _you_…" He met her eyes. "I have you and I sometimes can't believe I'm not in some Hulk-induced coma, living a life my head created to keep me from losing my mind over just how significantly awful my life really is."

Darcy's fingers smoothed down his cheek, lingering over where it ticked as he ground his teeth together. "I'm not a figment of your imagination, Bruce…" She raised an eyebrow. "I think if you could choose the personality of your wife, she probably wouldn't be this snarky." She rolled her eyes. "Or, and no offense to your intelligence or whatever, but she probably wouldn't be this busty." She frowned. "In fact, I think if you were in a Hulkoma, you'd be mentally marrying Betty or something…"

He shook his head and cupped her face, drawing her in for a quick kiss before he told her sincerely, "Reality's better then."

She pointed at him. "And stacked."

He laughed.

"_And you'll both be _late_ if you don't leave soon_," JARVIS interrupted.

Darcy grinned. "You're a career saver, JARVIS."

"_You're welcome, Miss. Darcy_."

She sent an O-K sign up with her hand. "'Preciate it." Tucking her necklace back beneath her shirt, she handed Bruce his bag, filled with paperwork and little notes he'd been writing all night whenever he thought of something work related. "Okay." She hooked her arm with his and walked them out of their apartment. "I may or may not have to do that thing at that place for that person today after work," she reminded.

His mouth curled. "The secrecy still, huh?"

"Hey! This is… _that _person! He is a sneaky, sneaky man! And he has eyes and ears _everywhere!_" She glared around the hallway. "He's not finding out what we're getting him this year! I _refuse _to let that happen!"

He stared down at her as they waited for the elevator, amused. "I'm sure he'll appreciate your tenacity later."

"He _loves _being surprised… He just doesn't let it happen very often."

As the elevator doors opened, he conceded her point. "It'll make things more interesting."

She pointed at him. "Exactly." She shrugged, smiling. "And what's a little more excitement in our lives?"

With a snort, Bruce thought they had _quite _enough excitement as it was, but given Darcy's was of the harmless variety, he was willing to agree.

They were on time, barely. And when he walked into the lab to see an eagerly waiting Scooter, he grinned. Taking a seat at his desk, he looked amused as she hovered.

"So?" she wondered hopefully.

"She said yes."

With a high-pitched squeal, Scooted hopped back and forth, foot to foot, and clasped her hands tightly so she wouldn't clap them. "This is amazing! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

He smiled lightly. "Thank you."

"So was she surprised? Did she cry? Did _you _cry?" she wondered.

He chuckled under his breath. "She was surprised. Neither of us cried, but she looked a little teary at one point."

Scooter smiled widely. "Tell me everything!" She waved a hand. "How did it happen? Did you use your cue cards? Was it romantic?"

Sitting back in his chair, Bruce decided his work could wait a few minutes. Scooter was the only person outside of him and Darcy that knew about the engagement and he was a little excited to share it. So, leaving out the details of their celebration sex, he told her about the proposal that ended up taking on a life of its own rather than following his carefully laid plans.

It wasn't until he realized he'd answered all of her questions and they'd spent nearly an hour not doing anything constructive that he told her they should really get back to work. But that didn't stop Scooter from sending him a thumbs up whenever she caught his eye.

It was nearly lunch when he noticed Tony hadn't dropped by to bug him, which, despite Tony's habit of getting stuck in his head and spending days or weeks on end in his lab without visiting, still struck him odd. With his birthday around the corner, Tony had been dropping by daily to tell him about some new over-the-top idea he had to make it the best bash of the year, sure to gain the attention of every news outlet across the world. While his arrogance and drive for attention usually made Bruce roll his eyes, he found himself a little bit intrigued as to what he might have up his sleeve that day.

"JARVIS?" he asked, turning his eyes up though there wasn't a specific place he could look that would show him the AI. "Any idea where Tony is?"

"_He and the rest of the Avengers have taken the morning off, Dr. Banner. It seems that with the power outage, there was a rash of looters and they spent much of their night chasing them down and bringing them to justice. It is my understanding that Director Fury approved a short rest to make up for their otherwise busy night_," JARVIS explained. "_I believe he is spending the morning in his apartment with Mrs. Stark. Should I inform him you are looking for him?_"

"No, that's fine." He shook his head. "He must be tired if he's not in his shop. I'll talk to him later."

"_Very well_." There was a pause before he added, quieter now and seemingly only close to Bruce, leaving the rest of the lab out of their conversation, "_And if I may say, sir… Congratulations!_" he said in a cheerfully sincere voice. "_I understand that you and Miss. Darcy wish to keep it private and I will certainly abide your wishes._"

He smiled. "Thank you, JARVIS."

"_Certainly_."

The morning went by rather quickly, though when Bruce was working it was hard to pay any attention to time, which is why it seemed to go by for so long before he seemed to notice. But as lunch time hit, the lab started to empty out, and before Scooter could offer to pick him up his usual, Darcy walked into the lab, smiling.

"Hey, Scooter, I got this guy for lunch, so you can take off," she said, waving at his assistant.

"Thanks, Darcy." She grabbed up her bag and paused. "Um, I just wanted to congratulate you…" She beamed. "I think it's really great that you and Dr. Banner are… _getting married_," she said in a whisper so nobody, despite the lab being otherwise empty, would hear. She shrugged. "Anyway, I'll see you after lunch." She hurried out of the lab.

Darcy watched her go, an eyebrow arched. "What happened to secrecy, Doctor Fluffy?" she wondered, taking a seat at the edge of his desk and reaching out to ruffle his hair.

"Scooter already knew. She was helping me plan everything," he explained. "I wanted a woman's point of view on how to handle things and I knew if I asked Pepper, it would eventually make its way back to Tony."

She shrugged. "Makes sense." She leaned back on his desk. "So? Sonnet or lunch?"

He half-smiled. "Lunch. I'm still working on the sonnet." He tipped his head and asked her teasingly, "What rhymes with stacked?"

She laughed, her head falling back. "I can tell this is going to put Shakespeare to shame." Hopping off his desk, she held out a hand.

Standing, he shrugged his lab coat off and took her hand, threading their fingers. "So how does Rocky's Diner sound?" he wondered.

"Mmm, _yes! _I'm so feeling a burger and fries!" She leaned into his side. "And a shake! I'm totally getting a strawberry shake!"

He grinned.

The walk from Avengers Tower to Rocky's Diner was only ten minutes. While it wasn't a place frequented by SHIELD, he knew some of the Avengers, like Steve and Clint, occasionally dropped by. The waitress, Dolores, knew them by name, and never looked star-struck, which was something to be admired of late.

"Hey kiddos, what can I getcha?" she asked, smacking gum between her teeth.

Dolores was in her mid-fifties and a little on the heavy side. She had a new pair of not quite age appropriate earrings, which today appeared to be shaped like tiny salted pretzels, and she wore her hair up in the same too-tight ponytail every time they visited. She never wore a hairnet, but always winked and told them that she had enough hairspray in there that it was a wonder it ever moved.

"Deluxe burger with fries and gravy, please and thank you! Oh, and a strawberry shake the size of my head with extra whip and a cherry on top." Darcy batted her eyelashes up at the waitress, her hands under her chin.

Dolores gave a raspy smoker's laugh. "For you kid, I'll even break out the real whip."

"Ah, you're a pistol, D!" she said, waving at her.

Bruce watched them banter, his lips curled at the corners.

"How about you, Dr. B?"

"Your soup of the day, please, Dolores. And a ham sandwich on rye."

She shook her head thoughtfully. "We got mushroom on the menu today, 'm afraid. But I'll get Rodger to make you up a cup of beef barley, how's that sound?"

He nodded. "Thank you."

"Sure." She gathered up the menus. "Green tea, too?"

"Please."

After she walked away, Darcy reached across the table and took Bruce's hands in hers, playing with his fingers. "So is it totally crazy to assume our phones are bugged? Like, I probably shouldn't call Aunt Mary and tell her we're getting hitched, 'cause Tony's got a bug in _everything_…"

He rolled his eyes lightly. "You put a lot of stock in your conspiracy theories when it comes to Tony."

"I know when not to underestimate a man, okay?" She shook her head. "Look at Coulson! You'd think he was just a mild-mannered accountant or something but meanwhile he's got an inner ninja with better foresight than my psychic aunt!" Her eyebrows hiked. "Seriously, one time I saw him take out an agent with a pencil! Pinned him to the wall by the shoulder of his shirt and he wasn't even _looking _at him when he did it. It was crazy!" She grinned. "And this other time, he totally talked the broken photo copier into working, _just_ long enough to finish what he was doing before it fizzled out and died with this horrific whining noise!" Which, of course, she imitated for him.

His eyebrows hiked. "I'm not sure the second one quite matches up with the first story," he told her.

She blew out dismissive breath. "Please, if you had to do as much paperwork as us, you'd think that ranked just as high too."

He shrugged, conceding her point. "In any case, I think you can call your Aunt and tell her the good news…" He smiled, imagining Mary and how she'd likely throw out a _psychic _dream she had in which he proposed so she just _knew _it was coming.

"Awesome," she said, looking up as Dolores returned with their drinks. She released his hands so she could wrap one around the gold fountain glass while she pinched the straw with her fingers and stirred, pulling it free to lick the whipped cream and strawberry shake from the length of it. Bruce watched her as he readied his tea, reaching for a sugar packet while she sucked the straw empty before dropping it back in her glass and plucked up the cherry by the stem.

"Hey, you know what we were supposed to do on our lunch?" she asked, digging her teeth into the red flesh of the cherry. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Remembering that they were supposed to make up for a lack of shower sex earlier, a smile stretched his lips. "There's always your favorite supply closet before I head back to the lab," he said, an eyebrow arched teasingly.

She shook her head. "No way. Not since I found that whole pack of sticky notes stuck in my bra…" She rolled her eyes. "And also I'm pretty sure we scarred Patrice from accounting, 'cause she can't look me in the eye anymore."

He snorted a laugh, remembering with some fondness and equal embarrassment how their lunch hour rendezvous in the supply closet nearly toppled a shelving unit, managing to send pens, staples, sticky notes, and file folders everywhere. Hearing the commotion, Patrice had come looking for the cause and wandered in just as Darcy was climaxing, gripping the edge of a shelf and clawing at his back, her legs wrapped around his waist, his pants shoved down to his knees, and the lab coat he was still wearing the only thing preserving what little of his modesty he had left.

"She turns around and walks in the other direction when she sees me," he told her, lips pursed. "But I'm not sure if that's because she saw us having sex or because The Other Guy scares her."

Darcy shrugged. "She should be thanking us. We probably brightened up her whole week." She rolled her eyes. "She's an accountant; she probably didn't even know you could _use _supply closets for that kind of thing."

He bit his lip. "I'm pretty sure you're not _supposed _to use them for that."

"Bleck. _Rules_." She waved a dismissive hand before wrapping her lips around her straw and taking a deep drink of her shake.

Stirring his tea, he knocked the spoon against the edge and dropped it to a napkin before picking up his mug. "You're going to get brain freeze," he warned.

She hummed, licking her lips of the pink creamy drink. "Totally worth it."

Feeling a buzz at his hip, Bruce looked down and then reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. He flicked through the screen to open his texts and found Tony had written him.

_My genius is wasted on looters. But it gave me a great idea for the party. Two words: Money. Piñata._

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and wrote back, _You want to fill a piñata with money and hand people potentially harmful weapons? How much do you trust your guests?_

It was nearly a minute later that he replied, _Point taken. A few flaws. Will work on them. Still… I'm on to something here, right? Think I should patent it?_

He rolled his eyes. _Pretty sure you're not the first person to think of it. Just the first one with the kind of money that will turn regular people into greedy jerks with no qualms over beating people with large sticks._

Bruce looked up, amused, as Darcy put a hand to her head. "Ow, ow, ow…" She pointed her straw at him. "Do _not _say you told me so."

He merely smiled.

Tony texted, drawing his eyes back to his phone. _I'm hurt. I'm sure those people were already greedy; I was only bringing out their natural urges. It's something I'm known for, in fact. ;)_

Bruce shook his head. _Shouldn't you be sleeping? I heard you had a long night..._

His reply was typical Tony. _Fine. I can see me and my genius piñata are not wanted here!_

Deciding it was best not to argue that point, Bruce chuckled under his breath and put his phone away.

Darcy's eyes lit up as their food was brought over and she did a little dance in the booth across from him. She plucked the slice of pickle off the top from where it was being held in place by a toothpick, grinned at Dolores and flopped it into her mouth, hanging over her chin like a green, lolling tongue. "You rock, Dolores!" She held a fist out that an amused Dolores bumped with her own.

In between eating her burger and dunking her fries in thick, brown gravy, Darcy asked him how his morning went and what he was working on. While she didn't always understand how complicated his work was, she always paid close attention when he explained it to her. Her half-eaten burger was being ignored in favor of taking a bite of his soup and stealing the toothpick from his sandwich to add to her own so she could make shoes out of two fries, that she then made dance on her plate.

"Hey, we should probably take dancing lessons," she said suddenly, her head cocked. "Not that we can't cut a mean rug already, but I so _don't _want to trip during our like 'just married' first dance."

Bruce nodded, stealing one of her fries but passing on the gravy. "I could ask Pepper where she had Tony study. I know he was taking lessons, when he bothered to actually go to them… Or Pepper forcibly dragged him along."

"Cool. We can schedule night classes so we can go after you finish up in the lab." She pushed her plate away, full, and wiped her hands off on a napkin before stretching her back and dragging her fingers through her hair. "I'm kind of really excited," she admitted. "I mean, I never really _planned _it, like super in-depth of anything, but now that we're engaged I've got all these ideas…" She looked away, a faint blush tinting her cheeks. "I might've completely ignored some of the paperwork Coulson wanted me to go over for the blackout last night in favor of surfing the net for dress ideas… And then I got distracted because _hair porn _and _veil porn _and _shoes!_"

He chuckled. "And Coulson, your favorite SHIELD ninja, didn't catch you?"

She shrugged. "Knowing him? He already knows, approves, and doesn't mind… Or maybe this is his way of giving me an early congratulations gift…" she mused, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Hm. Either way, unless he does that hovering, throat-clearing, 'I see you and you should not be doing that' thing, I'm just gonna roll with it."

He smiled. "Whatever works for you."

"Exactly!" Despite having given up on her own lunch, she grabbed his ignored pickle from the side of his plate and bit off the end.

He imagined she'd still be doing that when they were celebrating their silver anniversary and it made him grin.

The walk back to Avengers Tower brought Bruce's attention to a number of store fronts that were being cleaned up; windows were boarded up and glass still scattered the ground in front of a few. His arm around Darcy's waist squeezed and she looked up at him.

"Yeah, I heard it was Doctor Doom." She rolled her eyes. "You know him and electricity..." Her mouth twisted. "It was weird though. I mean, the lights went out but nothing besides looting happened. What's up with that?"

Bruce's brow furrowed. "I don't know…"

The rest of the walk back to the Tower was spent in contemplative silence; he rubbed a hand up and down her back, distracted. Darcy waved hello to the guards set up in the main lobby of the building and only squeezed his waist, drawing Bruce back to attention when they were standing outside his lab doors.

She smiled. "Welcome back, Doctor Fluffy," she teased, before leaning into him and tipping her head back. "I expect sex and sonnets after work," she told him, arching her eyebrows.

With a laugh, he leaned down and met her smiling mouth, sucking and nipping lightly at her bottom lip. "Message received," he told her.

She rubbed his nose in an Eskimo kiss and backed up. "Promises, promises," she said with a dramatic sigh, before she waved a hand and turned to leave. "Love you! Work hard!"

He shook his head. "You too."

As he pushed back through the lab, he found a few of the assistants had returned, but Scooter was still on break. He took his seat back at his desk and pushed away the clawing curiosity of Doom's attack, focusing instead on his work, quickly becoming immersed in it.

Aside from looking up for the odd mug of tea or snack that was put down, Bruce hardly paid any attention to the outside world. He could feel a breakthrough on the horizon and that often meant blocking out everything that wasn't work.

Scooter was on her way out, offering her congratulations one last time, signaling that regular people's usual work hours had come to an end. He waved an absent hand at her, reminding himself he still had another two hours ahead of him before Darcy came down to pry him away.

With the lab completely silent, it left him open to focusing even more. He took a drink of his now cold green tea, mouth screwing up at the taste, and started going through the scattered papers he'd been writing notes on, lining the edges and cramped together, making little sense to anybody that wasn't him.

When the alarm went up, he was confused at first. His brow furrowed as he looked up, coming out of his science fog to focus on the red light that was spinning.

"_Avengers, Assemble!_"

With a sigh, he plucked his glasses from his face, folded them, and dropped them to his desk. Shucking his lab coat, he started for the door, his phone vibrating. Since he knew it was Tony, he ignored it; he'd be seeing him in a minute and he was sure he'd hear all about how his short-lived day off was ruined.

Captain America was waiting for them, no longer the mild-mannered, nice-to-a-fault Steve Rogers. In his place was the strategic and focused Captain that led their group in each successful mission.

Hawkeye and Black Widow were already waiting, wearing their all black outfits. Clint's easy going smirk was gone, replaced with a serious frown, his arms crossed over his chest.

As Bruce met them, Tony came walking in behind him, sighing loudly.

"Let me guess," he said, "Phase Two of Doom's plan."

Steve glanced at him. "There are robots currently infiltrating the city. We believe they're associated with Doom."

Natasha waved a remote at a screen and brought up footage of them. "The power outage last night was either a ploy to distract and exhaust us or a way for him to power up _these _things."

"They're approximately twenty, maybe thirty, feet in length," Clint piped up. "Made of iron, but with a few chinks in the armor. The underbelly is thinner than the rest of the armor; I can tell by the way they're moving; there's too much give underneath."

"But getting to the underbelly won't be easy," Steve said, shaking his head. "Each one has six tentacles that reach down. They send off bursts of electricity that are currently destroying buildings and citizens alike."

Tony clapped his hands together and nodded. "Sounds like my kind of party."

"Where are they now?" Bruce wondered.

"They all seem to have one destination…" Steve frowned. "Here."

"I _just _renovated," Tony complained.

"They're fairly slow moving," Clint said. "We can probably head them off before they even reach our block."

The door swung open then and Coulson entered, one hand on his Bluetooth. "I'm with them now, sir…" He nodded. "Of course they have it under control. We're aware of the present danger and will be acting accordingly…" He paused, his eye twitching. "Minimum damage, sir. I'll take that under advisement." As he hung up, he looked to the team. "Ready?"

Minutes later, they were on their way in toward where chaos had exploded. Civilians were screaming and racing away, not unlike when the Chitauri had attacked. While Bruce couldn't remember the fight as much as he did arriving to it, he did remember the fear of the people around him and it was replicated here.

Buildings were toppled, debris making it hard for them to maneuver closer. Tony had already taken to the skies, while Thor too had said he had his own way of getting to the site. Clint was taking a helicopter in, wanting a height advantage. Natasha, Bruce, and Steve were grouped in a humvee. Noise rose up in the distance; crashing, explosions, the sound of metal on metal, the high-frequency electrical bolts firing from Iron Man's hand blasters, and Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, making contact with the opposition.

As they came to a skidding halt, Captain America was out first, his shield up, with Black Widow on his heels. Bruce joined them, briefly glancing down at the stretchable pants Tony had made for him the year prior. He frowned but unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it away. Taking a deep breath, he focused, letting The Other Guy know that it was time now for him to join the fight.

He swore he could hear a delighted chuckle before everything went black.

Hulk looked around at the chaos around him and let out a bellowing growl. He took off into the fray, ignoring Captain America shouting behind him. He batted quickly at the mechanical flying robots, their tentacled arms shooting electric blasts at him that scorched his skin only momentarily, sending him stumbling back a few steps but otherwise not harming him.

He grinned savagely and reached for a tentacle, using it to propel the robot in a circle above is head like a shiny, metal lasso, and then released it, feeling as close to happy as he came as it crunched against a building and fell to the ground in a sparking heap.

"That's one way to do it, big guy," Iron Man called down to him, hovering in the air nearby.

Hulk swatted at him, but mostly out of appearances than actually wanting to hurt him, and given Tony's laugh, he knew it.

"That's three down and… a _lot _more to go," he informed him by flying back into the fight.

Arrows flew past Hulk's head, intent on the robot currently hovering down the street, blasting at parked cars and small, vacated shops. Thunder could be heard as Thor attacked another, landing on a robot's back and riding it with a warrior's grin in place.

Captain America was running down the road, fending off electrical blasts as he hurried people to safety, covering them from enemy fire.

Natasha was perched on a car.

Hulk watched as she caught a tentacle and climbed it, using it to leverage herself to the underside and pulled a knife free to start cutting away the robot's underbelly.

With a snort, Hulk turned around, ready to do more damage.

He first used a car and threw it at the nearest robot, watching with a smirk as they crashed together and tumbled to the ground.

On the next, he pulled a street lamp from the ground and used it like a bat to knock it from the sky, leaping onto it and smashing the lamp down onto the sparking mass until it wasn't even twitching any longer.

But as many as he took out, it seemed there was always another. And the screaming of people below was getting on his nerves. He roared at them, wanting them to go away. The fight progressed through the city, however, and more and more people were forced out of their apartments or restaurants or work to see the commotion and then run for their lives.

He was wrestling with one, each arm gripped by two tentacled arms wrapped around them, when he heard it.

Hulk had good hearing. Better than the average person. It was one of the reasons screaming and crying made him so irritable. So while the crashing and the noise of the fight all around him was loud, he could still pin point that voice. As if a part of him, somewhere in his mind, behind the desire to smash and destroy, something was always aware, always scanning, always on the look out.

When he turned his head, he saw Darcy, a bag in one hand as she shouted at people to keep moving, grabbing up a kid and righting him when he tripped, looking back at the robot that was getting progressively closer with large, round eyes.

People were racing down the streets, knocking into each other, tripping. Darcy wasn't reacting the same; she was calm, or maybe too scared to react as dramatically as the others.

A tentacle reached out and grabbed a person as it raced by, crushed him, and then through the limp body at a nearby building before it sent an electric burst after him to assure damage. It repeated the process with three more people before Darcy seemed to get the message and started running faster, clutching the bag tight in her hand.

Hulk gave a loud growl, turned and bit into the underside of the robot holding him. His jagged teeth tore through the iron shell and eventually hit wires. He started pulling them out, twitching slightly as electricity snapped at his tongue and skin, before finally he felt as the tentacles wrapped around him released. Free, he sent an uppercut into the robot's belly and then threw it to the ground, stomping on the front, before he turned and started down the street, running as quickly as his lumbering body could go, feeling the ground shake with each of his pounding footsteps.

Darcy dodged a chunk of building as it landed just feet in front of her, smoking and rolling onto its side. She was bumped and jostled by the crowd single-mindedly racing in the same direction, paying little attention to who else was around them.

Hulk could hear his heart pounding in his ears; he could feel panic rising as he jumped over a pile of rock that was once a standing building.

He grabbed up a car by the tail end and threw it at the robot, watching as it cut sharply through the air, spinning in circles. He snapped his teeth as it landed just short of its target, skidding across the pavement and sending up sparks.

His green hand gripped a telephone pole and yanked it free from the pavement, smirking when it splintered into a point at the end. He threw it like a javelin, his hands fisting as it just scraped the top before flying far past and crashing into the pavement, crushing a car in half and setting the alarm to blaring.

Grabbing at his hair, he pulled at it, and shouted, "**DARCY RUN! FASTER!**"

Her head whipped around, spotted him, and she stumbled but caught herself in time and swung to the left just as a tentacle reached for her, missing and instead knocking over another man, but otherwise ignoring him.

"**HULK SAVE DARCY! HULK KILL BOT!**" He pushed himself to run faster, dodging fiery metal masses.

The fight behind him was still going strong, but it seemed they didn't notice what the Hulk was doing or why.

He was leaping off the top of a pile of debris, his arms stretched out, when a tentacle finally made contact, wrapping around Darcy's waist and plucking her up easily from the street below. She gave a shriek, her bag falling from her hands, and reached for the metal around her, shoving and clawing at it.

"Let me go, killer robot asshole!" she shouted, kicking her legs. "I will _ends _you!" She squirmed. "Ugh, if I had my tazer, you'd—"

The tentacle sprung back toward its stomach before shoving back out and releasing her.

Darcy flew through the air, twisting chaotically, hair whipping around her face, before she finally slammed into a red brick building and fell limp and quiet. The same tentacle shot off a burst of electricity, sending chunks of the building tumbling down on top of her.

With a shocked, angry howl, Hulk pushed up off the ground again and sailed forward, managing to grip the tail end of the robot. He pulled down until it collapsed under the weight of him and slammed it into the pavement. Standing on top of it, he peeled back the metal shell on top and dug a giant, green hand inside to pull the wires free, roaring viciously. He then gripped a tentacle in each hand and yanked them off, one by one, until it was just a sparking heap of junk. With one last kick, he finally turned, and started back toward the rubble.

His eyes darted over the mess and he gave a snapping growl before he started pulling chunks of debris, throwing behind him boulder-sized pieces like they were tiny rocks, careless of everything else. He brushed aside huge chunks of red brick, digging and digging, until finally… a hand.

A pale, white, hand.

He touched it hesitantly, spotting the chipped nail polish, with one green nail the same color as his skin.

A choked whine left his throat and he dug faster, pushing everything away until she was revealed.

He stared at her a long second, his thick chest heaving. Until very suddenly, he began to shrink. A bare-chested Bruce Banner fell to the rubble on his knees, his hand reaching for her. His eyes took in everything as he carefully pulled her up and out, laying her head in his lap.

She had a cut across the bridge of her nose, but it was nothing in comparison to everything else. He could feel that her hair was soaked in blood and his fingers moved of their own accord, a distant part of him relating back to the doctor that treated wounds while he was on the run. Her head was cracked open at the back, but the blood wasn't gushing anymore, as if she'd simply run out. Her hair was sticky with it; it had down her back and soaked her shirt.

Bruce bent his head to listen for a heartbeat, his shaking fingers at her neck, searching for a pulse. He found neither but that didn't stop him.

"Darcy," he pleaded. "Darcy, open your eyes." He stroked her hair back from her face, his thumb rubbing her temple. He let out a shuddering breath and opened each of her eyes, checking for dilation.

He carried her down to even ground and laid her out carefully, kneeling at her side as he went back and forth between blowing air into her mouth and pumping her chest, repeating the steps to CPR in his mind. Minutes passed and she never stirred.

"_Darcy_," he choked out, tears blurring his eyes. He gathered her back into his lap and felt bile rise in his throat as her head lolled at a funny angle, her neck broken.

He wiped at her face, dirty and streaked with blood; his tears dragged down her cheeks as he bowed his head over her. She was so pale, so still. He rocked her, his fingers buried in her hair. He took in gulping, heaving breaths, and shook his head.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up," he chanted. He shook her shoulder and hugged her tighter to his chest, pleading with her to open her eyes, to look at him, to just breathe. "Please, _please_ breathe."

Distantly, the fight raged on; he could hear the screaming, the crash of robots hitting and skidding across the pavement. The crowd of fleeing civilians was long gone, hidden, safe, _alive_.

He stared down at her, rubbing his thumb against her cheek. He traced the curve of her lips and the length of her nose, the shape of her eyes and the arch of her eyebrows.

"It's your fluffy..." He lifted one of her limp hands and pressed her unmoving fingers against his hair. "Your fluffy scientist, Darce…"

When she didn't start playing with it, he brought her hand down and kissed the palm; he cupped it around his own cheek and pressed his trembling lips to her pulse-less wrist, squeezing his eyes shut, tears dribbling out the corners. He cringed as he felt her warm blood squish against his pant leg.

He shook his head. "Please. I—I _need_ you. Wake up. Please." A cry broke from his throat, burning as he told her in a hoarse voice, "I can't do this without you… I can't…" His throat tightened up and he closed his eyes. "I love you." His breath hitched. "I love you, Darcy, please…"

When she didn't wake up, didn't crack her eyes and make a joke about how she'd fooled him, that no robot could compete with her inner badass, he ground his teeth together and shook her, gripping both arms around her tightly and letting out an agonized cry.

He dropped his head to her chest, his forehead buried at her still heart. And he felt the sharp edge of her engagement ring under the fabric of her shirt. He panted, his tears slowing, his crying quieting, his breath evening out. His hand slid up as he drew his head from her. He gripped her necklace through her shirt, her mood and engagement ring in his palm, and then he dropped a kiss against her forehead and rubbed his thumb down her temple as he let out a soft breath.

Broken and lost, Bruce felt everything fade away. There was nothing. He fell into a fog lacking completely in all emotion or sensation. As he checked out completely, the Hulk forced his way forward. As his body widened into the giant, green muscular form, Darcy was still cradled, though seemingly much smaller in the width of his arms.

Hulk stared down at the broken, lifeless body of Darcy and gave a loud, pained roar that drowned out everything around him. It echoed into the city, drawing eyes and making the civilians in hiding cringe in fear.

He shoved to his feet and walked around the pile of rubble, kicking at it angrily. He walked down the street, carrying her, growling at the useless robot that had killed her, before finally he collapsed, leaning back against a building, cradling her in his lap, hugging her to his chest.

He gave her a shake and roared down at her prone body, waiting expectantly for her to startle back to life like the Man of Iron. But Darcy didn't stir, didn't open her eyes, didn't so much as blink.

Hulk bashed his head back against the brick wall of the building angrily, not caring as dust and bits fell onto his shoulders. He reached down and poked at Darcy's shoulder with his finger. He stroked her hair and gave her head a nudge.

"**DARCY LIVE!**" he demanded. "**DARCY LIVE FOR BANNER AND HULK! NOT DIE!**" He growled at her, his brow furrowed. "**NOT WEAK! NOT DIE FROM ROBOT! LIVE!**"

But it didn't matter what he said or how he willed her alive; she was lost.

Hulk's angry shouting melted into mournful pleading. He slammed a fist down onto the pavement beside him. "**LIVE? DARCY TIRED? PRETTY WANT SLEEP? HULK WAIT! HULK WAIT FOR DARCY TO WAKE UP!**" He nodded his head abruptly, his chin set stubbornly. "**PRETTY NOT DEAD. PRETTY CAN'T DIE. HULK PROMISE. HULK SAVE DARCY.**"

And so he waited, impatiently, as seconds and minutes passed by, and Darcy never woke. He gave her a shake and watched her face, but it never changed. He shouted at her that she wasn't _allowed _to die, but it made no difference.

When the fighting ended, with the Avengers killing every robot that riddled the sky, they finally converged on him.

Hulk was holding her tightly, his teeth bared in a snarl.

Steve stepped forward, pulling his cowl from his head, and stared stricken.

Tony stumbled forward, his mask up, and fell to a knee, staring up in shock at Hulk and Darcy.

One by one, they joined, creating a half circle around them. The sky cracked then, lightening splitting it, and thunder rolled down from above. Rain began to fall, streaking down, dousing fires, soaking everyone and everything it touched. It pooled in the Hulk's arms and washed away the blood that clung to Darcy; crimson water spilled down his arms, a bloody waterfall.

She looked soft, clean, pale and beautiful. Completely still. Expressionless.

As the rain pelted down, the Hulk threw his head back and screamed at the sky, angry that it dared to rain down on her. On his precious Pretty. On Banner's Darcy.

He waved a fist at the skies as if to curse it before he hunched, trying to cover her, to keep her from the cold, cold water.

"**HULK PROMISED… HULK KEEP DARCY SAFE!**" He ground his teeth and screamed, both at the Avengers and himself and anybody listening, "**HULK _PROMISED!_**"

But there was no saving grace; no second chance or forgiveness to be found.

Darcy Lewis was gone. Bruce Banner was lost. And the Hulk continued the useless battle of trying to shield Darcy from a predator that had already come and ended her life.

Where once a happy ending was in sight, now there was none.

Quietly lost in the dark depths of his despairing mind, Bruce hid from his agony, unwilling to face what twisted hand of fate life had dealt him once more.

This morning, perhaps every morning from the moment Darcy walked into his life and turned it upside down, Bruce let himself think that maybe this was his one reward. Maybe Darcy… With her chaos and her spirit, her neon nail polish and penchant for stealing Tony's expensive wine, her tazer and her snark, her stubborn nature and her endless patience for distracted scientists, with the love she showed and shared with him every day… Maybe Darcy would be his saving grace in a life otherwise void of anything good.

He thought hers would be the one name never added to an overflowing list of had and taken; loved and lost.

He was wrong.

[**End.**]

**Author's Note**: _So, um... Sorry? ... I would like to tell you though, that there is at least one, possibly two, sequels coming after this. Oneshots based on the aftermath. So stay tuned for those! Thank you so much to everybody who read and reviewed; I know it wasn't easy, especially knowing that something like this was coming from the very first sentence. Thank you for hanging on and reading all the way through and especially to those of you who left a review!_


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